


Draco Malfoy

by Koizumi_Scarlet



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Not Epilogue Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-03-12 10:02:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 44,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3352514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koizumi_Scarlet/pseuds/Koizumi_Scarlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco Malfoy never much cared about the story of how Harry Potter ran away and abandoned his wife and godson. However, when that same wife invited him to get to know his sort-of cousin, Teddy Lupin, he couldn't help but be drawn into the mystery surrounding the family of two. The closer he grows to Teddy, the more he sees that something is strange and wrong in the house. But what?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, this will be my first actual multi-chapter fic, so I hope you enjoy it. I do want to warn my readers, this will be a fast-paced fic, so if you are expecting lots of long chapters, with a slow romance, I'm sorry to say that this isn't it. In fact, it's more pre-slash than slash. That being said,I got the idea for this story from a book I had to read for Uni, quite a famous one, though I won't mention its title. I'm quite interested in who is going to realize which book it is first. I know the title of my fic sounds quite boring, but that is because it's based on the book's title. (and isn't that a huge clue;) 
> 
> This fic is already finished, having 9 chapters, all between 3000 and 6000 words (usually around 4000). I do, however, welcome any suggestions or theories. If you ever give me an idea I like enough to incorporate into my story, I will first PM you, asking permission, and if I get it, I would credit you in the chapter it was used in. That being said, enjoy!
> 
> Warnings: Pre-slash, demented characters, OC. Another warning, I am taking the liberty to delete any flame or comment that does not qualify as constructive criticism in MY books. If you want to know what I consider constructive criticism, go look at my Profile.
> 
> Disclaimer: Read carefully, because I will only ever post the disclaimer in the first chapter (since I am too lazy to do this every chapter;). I do not own Harry Potter (tragically) and am writing for pure pleasure. This counts for all the other chapters I will post.

**Chapter 1**

Draco sipped at his drink, watching the busy streets of Diagon Alley whilst he waited for his companion to arrive. It was nearing midday and she still hadn't shown up. Luckily Draco, being the brilliant wizard he was, had managed to secure seating beneath an umbrella; otherwise his normally pale skin would already be tinted an unflattering red from the unforgiving sun. Of course that wench wanted to see him on the hottest recorded day from the past five years.

He sighed as he shifted his arm once again to glance at the ornate silver watch on his wrist, feeling a flash of annoyance when he realised she was almost fifteen minutes late. For someone who had asked to see him, she sure had rude manners to make him wait. After another ten minutes, the Slytherin just about had it and was about to stand up, when a voice interrupted him.

"Draco! I'm so sorry I'm late; I had a… matter to attend to. I do hope you forgive me." Lifting his gaze, grey eyes met with pale green and he sighed in annoyance but sat down again, remaining silent whilst the woman sat down and ordered herself a drink. He leaned back, resting his arms on the armrests and crossing his legs. Finally, after her drink had arrived, she took a sip and sighed in appreciation, before looking up to meet Draco's gaze.

"Firstly, I just wanted to make it known how glad I am that you have come to meet with me. There was a moment I thought you would decline my invitation." He watched as she sat forward, her deep auburn hair curling over one shoulder from where it was immaculately pinned up. She flicked a dainty wrist, causing the light green satin blouse to ripple gently, to pin her escaping locks behind her ear.

Draco could feel irritation build up in him, but he repressed it. He couldn't afford to be too harsh with her. Not when Amelle Potter was one of the wealthiest and most influential witches in Britain at the moment. The political power she wielded was enough to get the Minister sacked, if she used her contacts right. Not to mention the fame she acclaimed as the abandoned wife of the Wizarding World's saviour, Harry Potter.

After the war, there had been many articles on Potter's so called 'emergence from the closet', and plenty news columns gossiped about Potter's confession of being gay. After a few months of non-stop articles about the Boy Who Lived's daily life, things had quieted down. Only for another round to burst out about the news of Harry Potter, the gay bachelor, being engaged to a foreign witch, one Amelle Bordeaux. Theories about Potter was flying around left and right, escalating from a simple lie about his sexuality to Potter marrying Amelle for her family fortune.

Of course, Draco had thought it all nonsense, seeing as how Potter had his own fortune, but the fact remained that within a month Potter was married to this witch, without anyone knowing the reason behind the marriage. For two years they had lived together in a massive mansion with Potter's godson, Teddy Lupin, and practically exuded the aura of a happy family. That was…

Until Potter ran away.

The story, which had circulated around the Wizard community, was that exactly two years and a day after their marriage, Potter simply disappeared, leaving behind a note stating that he couldn't handle this domesticated life and wanted to travel. His best friends were seen protesting fiercely on Harry's behalf, stating that he would never leave behind his family, especially Teddy, but when the analysis came back on the note, affirming that it was indeed Potter's handwriting and magical signature coating the paper, they had no grounds for their claims.

Of course, a widespread search was still launched by Minster Shacklebolt, starting with Potter's entire manor which included the grounds and expanding to cover the rest of Britain. Enquiries to other countries revealed that none of them were aware Potter had left Britain, and after a year, the search was officially disbanded. Of course, rumours were still floating around about Weasley and Granger, who had cut all ties with Amelle except for when they visited Teddy, who was still searching for their lost friend.

Personally Draco just thought that Potter got sick of being married to a woman and left to be with his male lover, because no sane gay man would marry a woman without a lover on the side. As a bisexual, Draco didn't care whether his lover was male or female, but as far as he knew, Potter wasn't bi, but 100% gay. But whatever Potter's reason for abandoning his wife and godson, it didn't matter, since Amelle now had control over both their fortunes and even received the newly instated Potter and Peverell seats on the Wizengamot.

Now, a few months later, she was basically unstoppable in the political world. Her might combined with her charming personality caused a lot of people to support her and thus her network in Britain grew larger. It helped that she was often seen going on little outings with Teddy Lupin, endearing people to her even more, for raising a child which was not her own. Apparently, she had commented that at the age of five, Teddy is still very vulnerable and she wished to become the mother figure to him he needed, seeing as his father figure apparently didn't care enough.

"Draco? Have you heard anything I said?" Startled, the platinum-haired man glanced up to see Amelle leaning forward, studying him intently with a concerned gaze. Draco cleared his throat as he sat straight.

"Forgive me Mrs Potter, I was completely lost in my thoughts. You were saying?" After looking him over once more, she exhaled delicately, once again tucking back a lock of her hair.

"Please, call me Amelle, we've corresponded with each other for three months by now. Anyway, I said that I had a request of you." Draco blinked and tried not to show the surprise he felt on his face.

"And what would that request be?" The auburn-haired beauty glanced away, before she answered again. "I would like it if you would take time out of your schedule to visit Teddy, if possible." Narrowing his eyes, Draco cautiously replied.

"Why would you ask that? I've never met the boy and his side of the family has been disowned from the Blacks." Amelle smiled, her eyes gentling as she thought of the young boy.

"Actually, one thing Harry did do before abandoning us was to reinstate Andromeda and thus Teddy into the Black line. Besides, this is Teddy's request. He was apparently talking to his grandmother the other day when the subject of family came up. When asked if he had no other blood family than her, she replied that he still had a cousin, namely you. I assume it's because he is thirsty for blood family who won't leave him at the drop of a hat, but he insisted that he wanted to see you."

Long pale fingers intertwined as Draco rested his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands. He couldn't see what harm it could bring to visit the boy, especially since his father was in Azkaban for another ten years and his mother had moved to France, visiting him each month and his father when he was allowed to receive visitors. He might as well try to reconnect with the only family he had left in Britain. He glanced up to see the witch opposite him awaiting his reply.

"All right. When can I meet him?"

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Draco blinked up at the humungous manor he had apparated to. The sleek Victorian manor had various small towers and gothic arches complimented the overall feeling of the impressive building. The stairs leading to the front door was carved from a smooth stone, and vines grew in a controlled manner on the railings on each side. The lawn itself was well-ordered and filled with gorgeous roses which welcomed guests with their sweet scent.

All in all, it looked highly sophisticated and Draco had a hard time imagining Potter being happy in a place like this, unsophisticated prat that he was. As the former Slytherin started up the stairs, the huge double doors swung open, lacking the expected creak and revealing a house elf in a clean white towel bowing low.

"Mistress bids misters Malfoy to come to the Tea Room. If you be following Dosy, I be showing you the way." Handing his coat to the small elf, Draco strode across the entryway into an adjacent room and through a hallway, which opened up into a bright room, filled by light which was let in by the large windows that stretched from floor to ceiling. On a pale cream couch, Amelle sat reading a book, while Teddy was playing on the floor with a small toy phoenix that was flying at Teddy's commands. Draco could see the phoenix faltering a few times as it flew and concluded that it must be quite old if the charm work was starting to fade.

"Good morning Draco! I'm so glad you could make it. Have a seat. Teddy, this is your cousin Draco Malfoy. Be sure to greet him properly." Draco watched with interest as the little boy's hair changed from brown to green as he sent a small, almost unnoticeable glare at Amelle, before he stood up, phoenix clutched in one hand whilst he held out his other.

"Hello Cousin Draco. My name is Teddy Lupin. My Grandma told me about you." Draco chuckled, shaking that small hand as he kneeled down to be more on Teddy's level.

"Hello Teddy, I'm very glad to meet you. I would have come earlier, but I wasn't sure if you knew about me and I didn't want to shock you." Teddy's eyes widened and a small, shy smile peeked around his lips. "Why wouldn't I wanna know you? You look nice. Not like a bad guy, like Uncle Ron says."

"Teddy, be polite! And please, use the correct form of language. It's want to, not wanna." Teddy ignored Amelle as he continued to stare at Draco, clearly still waiting for an answer. Draco could see Amelle exhale heavily, but discreetly and he wondered if Teddy normally acted this way around her. But since he wasn't the boy's parent, and thus had no right to interfere, he wouldn't say anything about it.

"Well, my family was very mean to your family before you were born and some people might still be angry about it. But I'm not a bad guy, I can guarantee you that." Draco smiled winningly and Teddy smiled back, before grabbing Draco's hand and pulling him over to his box of toys, the Phoenix still gripped tightly in his hand. Digging around for a while, Teddy presented Draco with a small animated dragon, which roared and prowled around on Draco's hand. Draco could remember having a similar one as a child, but this brand was newly released, the sort that was able to be trained.

"My Grandma said that Draco means dragon, so you can play with that one."

Smiling, the pale man whispered to the dragon, before watching as it took off. He made it fly loops and twirls, diving and roaring fire at the flower pot. Teddy was jumping up and down, once again ignoring Amelle when she told him not to act like an uncultured barbarian and demanded Draco show him how to do that. So far, all he could do was make them fly straight or slowly bank to a side.

The rest of the morning was spent explaining to Teddy how the dragon followed a strong will and ultimately, any toy with the proper charm work could be trained. Sadly, the small boy's phoenix was an elder model that didn't have the right charms casted on it, but he had fun trying out the dragon with Draco directing him. Draco realised, however, that he never let go of the small phoenix, except maybe when he made it fly around his head or perch on his shoulder.

Sipping his Earl Grey, Draco smiled around the cup as he watched Teddy running after the dragon. The now orange-haired boy was laughing freely and the grey-eyed man found himself chuckling along with the boy. He hadn't expected to become so attached to the five-year-old in just one morning, but Teddy had a very likeable personality, which made the young child very hard to resist. If his mother is to be believed, and she generally was, his cousin Nymphadora had the same personality.

"I wanted to thank you for coming. It's been a while since I saw him laughing that much. Not since Harry left. I'm grateful to you. I hope you will make it a habit of coming over to see us." The pale green-eyed woman smiled gently as she placed a hand lightly on his arm and Draco immediately noted the use of the word 'us' instead of 'him'. He supposed that it wasn't that far a stretch that the feared and revered Mrs Potter could become lonely too.

The only question was why she chose him. He had noted quickly the strained relationship between Teddy and Amelle and had found it hard to believe that she adhered to Teddy's request for no reason. Though he supposed that she could be trying to buy brownie points, so to speak, but that didn't seem her style. This piqued his interest and so, Draco decided that until he found out exactly what it was she wanted, he didn't mind it too much to visit his small cousin periodically.

After all, he had always loved a good mystery.

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"Draco!" Draco let out a huff as Teddy slammed into him, wrapping his small arms around the taller man as he hugged him tightly. It was his fourth visit and each time he was met with the same greeting, to the point in which Draco wondered if Teddy had any friends. He had been sure the Weasleys still kept contact with the boy, but he wasn't so sure now. However, not wanting to bring up a painful subject if they weren't, he resolved to ask Amelle about the matter later.

In the last few days they had talked a lot, when he wasn't keeping Teddy occupied of course and Draco had found a private side to the very public woman. Amelle was more softly-spoken in private, enjoyed reading romance novels and yet had very strong opinions on political matters. He found that conversation flowed easily around her, though he still had a suspicion in the back of his mind that she was hiding something. But Draco has been slightly more paranoid since the war, so for now he would keep his silence and merely observe. He did think, however, that the matter of the Weasleys and Teddy's isolation from other kids his age should be discussed.

Later that day, when Teddy was passed out on the couch, exhausted from having played all afternoon on the toy broom Draco had bought him, Draco sipped his tea as he and Amelle watched the garden and the pond one could see in the back, where several swans were gliding peacefully.

"You are awfully quiet. Is there something on your mind?" Draco rubbed the handle of his cup, considering if he should be nosy, before finally deciding that she could just refuse to answer if she found the question invasive.

"Do the Weasleys still visit Teddy? Does he have any friends? He seems to be a little lonely in this manor." He glanced at the woman by his side and out of the corner of his eye could see her frowning briefly before her face smoothed once again.

"The Weasleys do still visit, however, they do it infrequently, maybe twice a month if that much. Teddy doesn't really have friends. I'm afraid to leave him in the care of strangers, so he hasn't had much of an opportunity to meet other children, I'm sad to say." Amelle said, taking a sip from the delicate teacup in her hands, placing the cup on the saucer gently before continuing. "The Weasleys were against my marriage to Harry from the start. They couldn't understand why Harry, who claimed to be gay, would marry a woman. They just didn't understand that to Harry, it didn't matter if I was a woman, he still loved me for me. Or so he said. I don't know what to believe now."

Draco stared at Teddy's sleeping face, thinking about Amelle's words long after she had left the room upon a house-elf calling her regarding business. It seemed she wasn't so well off as he thought. She had sounded quite sad and slightly hurt, but Draco couldn't help but feel sorry for Teddy. Because of Amelle's insecurity, Teddy wasn't given the chance to meet people his own age.

Draco resolved to visit Teddy more, when he got the time and maybe next time his mother came for a visit, he would introduce the little boy to her. He was sure she would love him, after she got over the fact that his mother was a half-blood and his father a half-breed. Fortunately, she had gotten over most of her beliefs about blood supremacy, but sometimes it still came to the surface, mostly habit than anything else.

Just then, Teddy stirred and his eyelids fluttered, before he slowly woke with a yawn, rubbing his eyes as he sat up, he spotted Draco a moment later and his hair instantly changed to platinum blond and his eyes grey. For a moment it looked like an eleven year old Draco was staring back at the former Slytherin, but then the small boy changed back to his usual amber eyes and his hair turned pink. He still didn't have much control over his ability, but he always tried.

"Draco! You're still here. I thought you had gone home already." Draco smiled as the boy clambered in his lap, staring at him seriously. "Nope, I wanted to wait a bit, until you woke up. I wanted to ask you something you see." Teddy's eyes widened and he nodded his head seriously, biting his lip nervously. Gently pulling his bottom lip from between his teeth, Draco ruffled his hair as he thought how to phrase the question, before deciding being blunt and honest is the best approach with a child so young.

"I know you are a bit lonely in this big house and that you don't get a lot of friends over. I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me to a Wizarding Play Park next week. We could spend the entire day there and come back to eat supper here. What do you think?"

Big amber eyes stared at him, opened as wide as they could go and Teddy's little mouth was hanging open. Draco gently closed it with his finger and the little boy blinked, before he whispered, "Really? Aunt Amelle said I could go? Promise?" Draco smiled.

"Well, I haven't asked her yet, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind." The grey-eyed man watched in confusion as the hope and excitement dimmed in those light ochre eyes and Teddy dropped his gaze.

"She would never let me go. Not without her there." he mumbled. Draco frowned and tried to catch Teddy's eyes again. When he finally succeeded, he said with a serious tone, "Don't worry, I'll convince her. You deserve a day out and I want to spend some time alone with my cousin."

The boy nodded dubiously and Draco set him on the floor, patting his shoulder as he told him to pack away his toys while he went to search for Amelle. When he arrived in the entry Hall, Dosy appeared in front of him. "Can Dosy be getting anything for misters Malfoy? " Draco glanced around and then looked back at the elf.

"Yes Dosy, could you show me where your mistress is?" Dosy wrung her hands, flicking her eyes left and right. Giving a short, sharp tug on her ear, she led Draco down another hallway and opened the door to an empty study.

"Misters Malfoy be waiting here while Dosy be fetching the mistress." Before Draco could even protest, the elf disappeared with a pop and Draco sighed, sitting down on the comfortable arm chair. He looked around the study, whose walls were lined with books and the ornate desk in front of him. There was a big portrait of Amelle, her face impassive though her eyes gleamed with hidden sorrow, holding a tatty looking blue bunny, the plush animal's long ears flopping downward. The portrait hung on an open space between the two bookcases and a window at the far end of the room showed the gates to the property.

Sitting in the utter silence, Draco let his mind drift, thinking about how he would convince Amelle.

A soft noise caught his attention and he turned his head in the direction he thought it came from. He waited a moment, but could not hear anything further. Just as he dismissed it, he heard it again. It sounded like a faint, far off scream, though his mind could be playing tricks on him. Listening intently, he thought he could hear soft thuds, but just when he stood, determined to try and find the source of the noise, he heard footsteps outside the door and all the sounds immediately disappeared. Amelle entered, smiling at him as she took the seat opposite him and Draco shook off the strange sounds, dismissing them.

"Dosy told me you wanted to see me?" Clearing his throat, Draco nodded. 'Yes. I wanted to ask your permission to take Teddy to a Wizarding Play Park. I would love to spend some time with him alone and I'm sure he would love to get out of the house and have some fun. I think-"

"No."

Draco paused, blinking back his shock at the cold voice that had emerged from Amelle's lips. He licked his lips and blinked again. "Amelle, he would be perfectly safe with me, I promise. You don't-"

"Draco, I said no! He is MINE! I am not letting him leave this house without me! NEVER!"

Draco sat back, shocked at her possessiveness. It was the first time he had seen such a menacing rage in Amelle's eyes.

What could cause her to act like this?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, I am so happy with all the comments and kudos, you guys are amazing!!!! Thanks especially to those who commented: Min, rachel_vixen, DriverTazSC, LexFightsRobots and MakeupDiva. There is some more Draco-Teddy interaction in this chapter, so hope it satisfies:)
> 
> A/N#2: Hey guys, this isn't an update, it's just a reposting of the chapter, since some comments alerted me to the fact that the french in this chapter is wrong, so I'm just correcting it. Thanks!

Studying the aloof woman before him, Draco realised quite suddenly that he didn't know Amelle as well as he thought he did. He sat back, watching her with cool eyes. "And why not? You're basically keeping him prisoner. I know you take him out sometimes, but he needs more and he needs to bond with more people than just you. Why would you not want him to leave the house Amelle?" Amelle sat as still as a statue. Draco could see a fine tremor running through her thin frame as the tension in the room heightened. His suspicion that something was wrong suddenly seemed that much more possible and he wanted to find out what it was.

Suddenly, the tension was broken as Amelle abruptly burst into tears, hiding her face behind her hands. Draco was flabbergasted. What on earth was going on? He jumped up and moved to Amelle's chair, crouching in front of her and cautiously placing a hand on her shaking shoulder. "I'm so-sor-ry… I just- I'm so… sc-scared that s-something will happen t-to Ted-Teddy. Harry al-already left m-me and I just… I just don't wa-want to l-lose Teddy too… I'm terrified o-of letting him l-leave without m-me." Draco sighed, rubbing her shoulder a bit more strongly, before he pulled her into a hug and immediatly she clung to him, soft sobs wracking her body. Rubbing her back, he murmured softly to her.

"Amelle, I know it's hard and I know you are afraid, but I promise nothing will happen to Teddy. It isn't healthy for him to stay here all the time. I will just take him to the park and bring him straight home for dinner. Everything will be alright, no one will be able to get Teddy from me. But you need to let go a bit, give him room to breathe, otherwise he will grow to resent you. That's not what you want, right?" Her sobs had stilled and she slowly let go of him, gratefully accepting the No-Stain, No-Tear Handkerchief from him as she carefully wiped her face. She still looked disgruntled, but slowly she nodded. He smiled and hugged her again, glad she had trusted him.

He couldn't wait to tell Teddy.

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"Wow…" Draco felt his heart warm at Teddy's awe-filled exhale. He knew this must have been the first time in a while in which Teddy had been out without Amelle's supervision and definitely the first time he had been at a Play Park. Activities of all sorts lay spread out in front of him, colours springing out and music overwhelming his senses. It was a bit busy for his taste, but for Teddy, Draco could handle the chattering noise of children screaming and laughing, of parents scolding and rides advertising themselves. The pale man was happy to see Teddy so excited. When he had picked Teddy up this morning, he had looked downcast and troubled, a very unusual emotion for the usually cheerful boy. However, the closer the Knight Bus got to the Park, the more his bad mood seemed to disappear, till he was literally bouncing in his seat in anticipation. Draco didn't know what had made Teddy so unhappy this morning, but he was glad it seemed to be absent from his mind at the moment.

"So, what do you want to do first?" Watching with amusement as Teddy chewed his lip, the small boy gazing at all their options and Draco couldn't help but feel that he had made the right choice.

"Let's go on that one!" Looking at where Teddy's small finger pointed, Draco felt laughter wanting to bubble up. The ride his cousin had picked was that of a giant broomstick design, where there were various seats one could sit on, on the handle of the broom. Once you sat down, a modified sticking charm automatically activated, before the broom took off, making twirls and loops in the air, its passengers screaming in joy of the fright. The ex-Slytherin thought it must be his mother's blood wanting him to feel such adrenalin rush, though Potter's idiotic risk-taking habit could have rubbed off on Teddy before he left. Taking the boy's tiny hand, he led him towards the ride. He was sure it would be a fun experience.

The rest of the day was spent trying out various rides, from the Spinning Cauldrons to the Basilisk or the Hydra Haven. He had never seen Teddy laugh so much nor look so care-free and he realised just then that Teddy had always seemed to carry a shadow with him, despite the times he had played with Draco within the manor. Seeing something sparkle when Teddy spun around, he realised that the blue-haired boy had his toy phoenix on a string around his neck. He still didn't know why he was so attached to that old toy, but he didn't want to ask if it could potentially ruin the mood. He had a hunch why it was so important anyway.

"Draco, Draco, look!" Looking up, Draco saw the ride Teddy was pointing to. Magic carpets were positioned in a large circle in the air, each with a thin bubble around it that reflected the sunlight. One could not see inside the bubble, but Draco noticed that when one of the flying carpets reached the ground that a couple exited from the bubble, only for another group to enter it. The carpets were flying relatively slow, but he supposed that was the purpose of it. Bright lights of charm work connected each bubble to a floating glass orb in the middle of the carpet bubbles, which Draco supposed was the anchor for the carpets' circle.

"You want to go on that?" Teddy nodded, bouncing in place and Draco let the boy drag him towards the ride, smiling at his exuberance. Showing the magical stamp he and Teddy had gotten at the gates to the conductor, they climbed into the next bubble that came to the ground, sitting down on the soft carpet as it started moving. They could see outside the bubble, but Draco knew no one could see them and he supposed it was a ride mostly couples used. Another convenient use of the bubble, Draco saw as Teddy leaned against it, was that it prevented people from falling off while the carpet was in the air.

"Wow, Draco look! The people look like ants! I can see the whole world from here!" Laughing, the platinum-haired man looked out the bubble, seeing how high up they were. It made him want to fly again and feel the wind on his face. Maybe he would take Teddy flying with him on his broom in the future. He was sure the boy would enjoy it.

When they finally reached the ground again, Draco bought them both large ice-creams, with Teddy choosing the cookies and cream flavour, while Draco preferred the peppermint chocolate flavour. Licking the melting ice cream quickly and gracefully, he sighed in exasperation at the mess Teddy created and took out his handkerchief, wiping the boy's face clean, before spelling the last stubborn bits of ice-cream away. He smiled back as Teddy grinned up at him, and after tucking the handkerchief and his wand away, they ambled on.

It was just before supper time when they had finally made it back to the Manor and Teddy was clutching a soft toy dragon, which was almost as big as he himself, tightly to his chest. Draco had bought it for him as a souvenir and the boy had immediately named it Emerald after its bright green scales. They were laughing as they entered the manor and Teddy was chattering a mile a minute about everything he had seen that day. Draco was listening attentively, nodding along and commenting now and then, chuckling at the small boy's bright face.

"I see you're back. How did it go? Did you enjoy yourself Teddy?" Teddy suddenly became subdued, before he nodded and said softly,

"Yes Aunt Amelle. It was fun and Cousin Draco even bought me a toy." Amelle smiled and gently ran her hand though Teddy's hair, patting it lovingly before she stepped back and regarded Draco. "Thank you for showing him an enjoyable evening. I can see he enjoyed it very much." Smiling, Draco waved her thanks away.

"It was no problem. I love to do things like this for Teddy. We should do something again soon, right Teddy?" The boy glanced at the woman in front of them, whose mouth had tightened, but she nodded anyway. Draco was quite proud of her for making an effort to let the boy go places without her, even when it caused her such anxiety. Teddy brightened and even gave her a very short hug, before he bounded to Draco and chattered on about what places he wanted to visit next. Draco couldn't help but relish the shocked yet happy expression on Amelle's face. It must have been hard on her to raise Teddy on her own, especially when he had such a subdued manner around her. Perhaps he would see the day when they could finally have a real mother-son relationship.

He would look forward to it.

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"Malfoy." Draco glanced up, before jerking upright as he realised who was speaking to him. His eyes narrowed and he could feel the muscles in his back tensing involuntarily.

"Yes Granger? What do you want?" Granger sniffed, pushing a lone curl behind her ear where it escaped from the loose bun she had her mane trapped in. "It's Mrs Weasley actually."

The Slytherin had actually known that, but habit and nausea at the thought of Granger and Weasel procreating had him revert back to her maiden name. He watched as she glanced around his shop, seemingly interested in the exotic potions ingredients despite her forced aloofness. Draco sold only the rare and expensive potions ingredients and the potions that were the hardest to make or the ones that took too much effort, like the Polyjuice Potion and the Wolfsbane. He had his share of regular customers; mostly Potions Master's from around the world, as he was one of the only places that had the license to sell some of the more volatile ingredients.

Usually he wouldn't even be seeing someone like Granger in his shop, which made him curious about what she could want. His price range would be far above her meagre Ministry salary and he sold the Wolfsbane only to werewolves, who had to meet him personally. He didn't want someone else to buy it and blackmail a werewolf with it or for a werewolf to buy it and use it like Greyback would've, if he hadn't accepted his wolf so intimately.

Thanks to his father's old contacts, he was known among the werewolves for being honourable, making a plan if they couldn't afford the potion and taking a vow to keep their identity secret. In the beginning it was just so that he could sell more potions, but after he met Teddy and began spending time with him, he became more sincere in his efforts, knowing that abolishing the hatred between werewolves and wizards was the quickest way to getting laws revoked and thus Teddy, as the son of a werewolf, out of danger. He knew Amelle was also using her considerable influence in the Ministry to try and get equal rights for werewolves.

"Of course Mrs Weasley. What can I help you with?" Hiding a grimace, he let his smooth merchant's mask slip over his features, watching the Gryffindor impassively. She was chewing her lip quite determinedly, before she realised what she was doing and stopped. Draco lifted an eyebrow and wondered if Teddy had learned that little habit from her.

"Teddy told me you were meeting with him." This time, both his brows lifted and he couldn't help the small sneer that escaped.

"What, come to warn me off? I'm afraid you won't find it so easy Granger. He is, after all, family."

For a moment, the bushy haired witch looked taken aback, before she squared her shoulders. That would be her idiotic Gryffindor courage taking root, he supposed."I wanted to know what you intended to do. Teddy has been hurt often enough. I would not like to see him hurt again." This time, the sneer that broke over Draco's face was one of epic proportions, so much that the witch in front of him actually flinched before she seemed to brace herself against it.

"I'm hurting him? As far as I know, I'm visiting him almost every second day. You and your brood, on the other hand, see him about once a month, if Amelle is to be believed, and I'm inclined to do so, since I haven't seen you there once since I stared visiting him, or heard him talk about you. Believe me _Mrs Weasley,_ I'm not the one who is most likely to hurt him."

His piercing stare left no question to who he thought was hurting Teddy, and Hermione seemed to deflate a bit.

"I… I know we don't see him enough. But… it's just so difficult to enter that house, where Harry lived with _that_ woman. If she would just let Teddy visit us…" Draco snorted in disgust, before resigning himself to the knowledge that he was going to have to lecture a Gryffindor, if only to insure Teddy got more company. Well, as long as he was doing it, he might as well rile her up. Who knows what juicy information he might get out of Granger.

"Granger. Harry abandoned her. He left her for no reason other than he wanted to have asinine adventures. Of course she would be hesitant to let Teddy out of her sight. She's afraid that she would lose who is, for all intents and purposes, her son. If you really love Teddy so much, then you would make sacrifices for him, like visiting him at his home. And Amelle is trying her best to raise someone who, technically, has no connection to her other than that of her runaway husband. You have no right to refer to her so derogatorily, as ' _that woman'_. What has she done to deserve it? She's been taking care of Teddy where you tried to forget he existed and only remembered him once a month, _if he's lucky_."

Granger seemed to be frozen, except for the fine tremor quaking through her body. Draco counted backwards in his head, waiting for the explosion.

_3… 2… 1…_

" _How dare you!_ " Granger seemed to be hissing, so low was her voice as she glared daggers at Draco. "You have no idea what we went through! The confusion when Harry suddenly turned up one day, announcing he was going to marry Amelle, without _anyone_ knowing who she is previously and even though he was _supposed to be gay_! You don't know how he changed after he married her! Oh, he was still Harry, but he got more distant, more aloof and later on, even absent-minded. We had lost our best friend, to her! And then, to believe he would just up and leave? For no other reason than to see adventure?! You, Draco Malfoy, might believe that, but we don't! Harry's greatest dream was to have a family, because he had been deprived of his own. Why would he abandon that when he seemingly finally had it? It doesn't make sense. You never saw him with Teddy, but I had! The love he had for that little boy! He would not leave him behind, if he had chosen to go away."

The pale man watched as Granger stopped ranting, her chest heaving even though she had not once screamed, rather hissing venomously at him. He watched as she angrily pushed more escaped curls away from her face, her eyes holding that particular sheen of tears that will not fall. He could practically see electricity sparking around her. Though he would never admit it, what she said made sense. He may not have been friends with Potter or even really talked to him since the war ended, but despite the dislike he held for the boy he went to school with, he would be the first to admit that Potter had ridiculously high morals and a sense of honour. He couldn't imagine him abandoning Teddy, yet that is exactly what happened. It was a bit strange, but no one could prove that he hadn't done just that.

"And what, Granger, about the letter? It was proven that it was written by him. Don't say he was Imperiused, everyone with half a brain knows he can throw the Imperius off. And there was no trace of Potter found in the manor or elsewhere."

"Exactly! I admit I'm not sure about the letter, I'm still working on that, but think about it! How can Harry manage to disappear entirely? During our seventh year and the last year of the war, it was me who taught them how to hide from Death Eaters and Snatchers. Harry has no trick or spell in his arsenal that I haven't taught him. After the war, he didn't want to study for a while and after he married her, he didn't have time. Even if he could hide from the Ministry, I'm positive I could find him. The fact that I couldn't, even after two years, makes me believe he isn't hiding with his own strength." Draco felt like rolling his eyes, but he could admit to being a bit intrigued.

"What if he learned new spells after he left Granger? And how can you be so sure that he didn't do any studying in secret, exactly because he didn't want you to find him. You weren't with him every second of the day." Yet the stubborn expression remained on her face.

"I just know it Malfoy. I know Harry, and he wouldn't have done that. There is something wrong with this picture, and I will find out what."

The grey-eyed man sighed and leaned on the counter in fake nonchalance. "Why, may I ask, are you telling me this? I happen to find Amelle's company quite enjoyable, so why try and tell me your theories?"For the first time, he saw the Gryffindor look uncertain and hesitant, before she squared her shoulders.

"You might be a lot of things Malfoy, but you are not stupid. You were Harry's rival, you know he wouldn't do something like this. And also, I know you love Teddy, if what I heard from him is correct and you would do almost anything for him, I'd wager. Finding out what happened to Harry and being able to tell Teddy that the only father he has ever known had not abandoned him… Can you imagine how happy that would make him? The burden it would lift from his small shoulders? I would love to be able to tell him that, but I cannot find the truth on my own, not when someone has taken steps to cover it so thoroughly." With that, Granger gave him one last piercing look, before she abruptly turned and left the shop, silence in her wake. Draco sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes with his hands.

Things just got a whole lot more complicated.

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Grey eyes travelled over the various goods the store was offering, silently rejecting each tacky object, searching for that one item that would be perfect. He wasn't yet sure what he wanted, but he would know it when he saw it. Draco sighed as yet another store couldn't offer him what he sought for. It was Teddy's birthday in a few days and he couldn't find a suitable present for the small boy. Amelle bought the boy lots of toys, so as a result Draco didn't think there was a toy that Teddy didn't have. At least, all the expensive toys, since Amelle didn't believe in buying cheap toys.

Sadly, Draco was also reluctant to buy something cheap, so he had a bit more trouble finding a suitable gift. He had considered buying Teddy a kid's broom, one that flew five metres off the ground instead of a toy broom's two, since that was one thing Amelle hadn't bought him, for fear of Teddy falling off. However, it seemed so cliché to Draco and besides, he didn't want Amelle to stress more or to undermine her authority as Teddy's parent.

Strolling through the Alley, Draco's eyes alighted upon a shop that newly opened. He guessed it was where the figurine of the dragon was bought, since he saw more dragons, centaurs etc. in the window, but it wasn't a place he entered previously. He ambled forward, looking at the toys on display. Deciding it couldn't hurt to look, even though the shop was quite small, he walked in, looking around with interest. There were toys flying around the shop and music assaulting him periodically. He saw a sign that proclaimed that the newest inventions, based off muggle toys, were sold here. This line of toys was apparently exclusive to this shop and despite his dislike for muggles, he moved forward to get a better look.

After a few minutes of browsing, a shop assistant came closer, the witch smiling brightly at the blond. "Can I help you sir? Is there anything specific you are looking for?" Draco was about to dismiss her help, when a small object caught his attention.

"Yes, I would like to know more about this." The assistant picked up the object he was gesturing to, holding it out to display it proudly on her palms.

"Ahhh, sir has a good eye. This is very popular, especially when bought with this as a pair." Picking up another object, the assistant quickly explained the object's function and Draco became more sure that this would be the perfect gift the more he heard. "I'll take it."

Satisfied with his purchase, he apparated home and once there, wrapped it quickly with a charm in silver wrapping paper that had golden snitches flying around. He couldn't wait to see if Teddy liked his gift.

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"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Teddy's smile was so bright that Draco couldn't help but laugh as he excitedly blew out all his candles, the flames of each candle flashing a different colour. A few went out before they flared on again and the small boy's cheeks grew red as he laughed and tried to blow them out. It was finally with the combined effort of Teddy, Victoire and Dominique, the children of Bill and Fleur whom Hermione and Ron had bought to the small gathering of people celebrating Teddy's sixth birthday.

Victoire, as bossy yet sweet girl of four, was probably the closest friend Teddy had, even though she was two years younger than he was. Dominique, being three, mostly followed them around or kept herself busy with Teddy's toys. Besides Teddy's playmates and Ron and Hermione, Andromeda had also shown up at the party, along with Molly and Arthur Weasley. No relatives of Amelle had shown and Draco couldn't help but wonder why, yet he wouldn't ask, in case it bought up bad memories.

After the cake was cut, a huge monstrosity shaped like a sleeping wolf that Mrs. Weasley (the elder) had made, the children had great fun smearing the icing on each other as they ran around, playing. Draco was keeping Amelle busy, trying to distract her from the mess the children were making and the hostile glances the Weasleys threw at her. Hearing a screech, Draco turned to see Victoire completely soaked and crying, while Teddy was hovering around her looking distressed. Placing his glass in Amelle's hand, he strode forward before the Weasleys could, kneeling down next to the silver haired girl.

"Hey, what happened ma chérie? Are you hurt somewhere?" The little girl sniffed, mumbling under her breath softly as she hiccupped. "You're going to have to speak up darling."

"J'ai glissé dans une flaque d'eau et maintenant ma robe est toute sale! Maman va être tellement en colère! (I slipped in a puddle and now my dress is all dirty. Mommy is going to be so angry!) Draco smiled, half at the hysterical tone the little girl was speaking with and half to reassure Teddy, who looked utterly confused at the French his distressed friend was babbling.

"Ne t'inquiète pas ma chérie" (Don't worry my darling). Draco waved his wand and the mud and dirty water disappeared from the blond girl's dress, leaving her as clean as before. "See little one, all better. Maman won't even know it was dirty."

As the small girl realised her dress wasn't stained anymore, the sniffles grew quieter, before it stopped completely. Teddy, seeing that Victoire was alright again, grabbed her hand and dragged her off, both throwing a 'thanks' over their shoulder. Soon, the garden was filled with laughter again.

Later that afternoon, after all the guests had left, Draco was sitting with Amelle in the sitting room, watching as Teddy was sorting through his presents. From the elder Weasleys, he had gotten an assortment of homemade treats, chocolates and sweets neatly arranged in a small wooden chest. From Victoire and Dominique he had gotten various prank items, which they claimed their Uncle George gave them. Andromeda had given Teddy a small glass ball, filled with coloured smoke. Though it looked a lot like a Remembrall, this was in fact a ball used to practice metamorphmagus skills. The ball was for beginners, where the smoke would form an image and the metamorphmagus would try and copy that image. The magic of the ball would pick up the small mistakes in the metamorphmagus's face and then enlarge those features in the smoke, so they knew what they had to work on.

Ron and Hermione's gift was something which fascinated Draco. Apparently it was a muggle object, a lamp of sorts. Granger had called it a plasma globe, but Draco had no idea what that meant. Regardless of the strange name, the object itself was quite beautiful. The figure of a wolf howling was the body of the lamp, with four trees curving up from the base to above the wolf's head, where it supported a strange glass orb, filled with what looked like bright blue lightning. When one touched one's fingers to the glass, the lightning would be directed from the orb in the centre to that spot and Teddy had delighted in running his fingers over the ball.

Draco had not yet given his gift to his cousin, preferring to wait till the Weasleys had left and it seemed Amelle had felt the same way. They patiently waited till Teddy had packed all his gifts away, before Draco called him over. Pulling the small boy into his lap, he presented him with the silver wrapped package. "Happy Birthday Teddy." Teddy looked at the gift, and then glanced at Amelle. As soon as she nodded slightly, he grinned and tore off the paper, throwing the bits of scraps to the ground. Turning the object over and over in his hands, he looked up at Draco questioningly.

"This, Teddy, is a magical camera. It's based on a muggle invention called a Polaroid or something, but basically any photo you take would immediately be printed out and it will move. There's something more in the package, to go with your camera." The boy was bouncing excitedly, putting the small blue Polaroid aside, before reaching for the last bit of the gift. He pulled out a big book, covered in beautiful carved leather that had his name embossed on the front, surrounded by four creatures. A dragon sat in one corner, brooding over his treasure, while a magnificent phoenix flew over it. A werewolf was prowling in another corner, while a jack-rabbit bounced along above it.

"It's an Album, for your photos. However, this album is very special. After you filled it with photos, its magic will activate and each time when you pick it up, it will assess your mood and open to a page that will make you most happy, or that it feels you need to see at that moment." Teddy was stroking the cover in awe, his small face radiating happiness.

"Why is there a dragon, a phoenix, a wolf and a rabbit on the front Draco?" Teddy glanced up at Draco inquisitively, before his eyes returned to the book.

"Well, the Dragon is to represent me and the phoenix I chose because you seemed to love that toy phoenix you always carry with you. The wolf is actually a werewolf and it's for your father, Remus Lupin, while the jack-rabbit, I'm told by your Grandmother, was your mom's patronus, before she met your father." Teddy seemed to think a bit as he stroked the phoenix, before such a blinding smile was directed at Draco that he almost blinked. Teddy threw his arms around the Slytherin's neck, hugging him tightly as he whispered thank you. Tightening his own arms around the frail body in his arms, Draco knew he had made the right choice.

A small clearing of the throat caused Teddy to almost jump back, looking over at Amelle through his bangs. She was holding out a small package, wrapped in blue and Teddy cautiously took it. Glancing at her again, he proceeded to carefully open the wrapping paper, making sure not to tear it like he did the others. The green-haired boy seemed to freeze as something red and gold tumbled out onto his palm. Leaning forward, Draco studied the object in the small boy's hands. It was a figurine of a phoenix, its magnificent red plumage ruffling as it righted itself. Its long tail feathers spread as it lifted its wings, the gold glinting off the tips. Compared to the aged phoenix Teddy carried around, this one was vastly superior, in looks and in ability.

"It's one of the newest models, which you can train. It will even sing for you if you expose it to music. Isn't it wonderful, Teddy dear? Much better than that run down one you have. I'm not sure how long that ragged toy will last anymore." Teddy was silent, staring at the preening phoenix on his palm, seemingly contemplative. However, Draco could see the tension lining his small back.

He was just about to ask Teddy what was wrong, when Teddy jumped up and threw the toy phoenix as hard as he could against the wall, yelling angrily. Draco sat stunned as the boy threw a fit, screaming that he didn't want the toy and that he would keep his other phoenix. The pale man could see Amelle beginning to overcome her shock, her face reddening in anger. She stood up, her entire body quivering with suppressed rage. Draco could do nothing but sit and stare as the woman glared down at the small boy, her eyes flashing with annoyance when the boy glared right back at her.

"Theodore Remus Lupin-Potter! How _dare_ you speak to me that way! I did not raise you to be an uncouth little _brat,_ who throws his gifts at walls. That toy was a present and you will treat it correctly. I _will not_ allow you to keep that dirty little broken phoenix of yours when you have one _much better_." Teddy stared mutinously back, his small mouth opening furiously.

"NO! I DON'T WANT IT! I HATE IT! I HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT!" Despite the loud volume of his screams, the little boy didn't move, his one hand clutched protectively over his small phoenix which hung around his neck. "TEDDY!" Amelle snapped, reaching out towards the angry boy.

In a flash, Teddy had run around the couch, and as Draco watched, the young boy changed his hair and eye colour. Messy black locks fell over his forehead as rage-filled viridian eyes glared poisonously at Amelle. Seeing this, Amelle flinched so hard she fell down into her chair, her face draining of colour.

"I HATE YOU!" Teddy screamed one last time, before he tore out of the room. The man could hear him darting up the stairs, the sound of a door slamming echoing through the house. Draco sat back in shock, not even aware of the tears running down Amelle's face. That face…

The disorderly black curls and those emerald green orbs, he remembered them well.

It had been the face of Harry Potter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There, second chapter done! I hoped you guys liked it and please, pleeeaaase (imagine me as a pitiful puppy wagging her tail, mournful eyes begging for scraps;) comment and tell me what you thought! Now, the next chapter will be up next Tuesday and I respond to all comments, so if you have a question, go ahead and I'll try my best to answer it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies!! I hope that this chapter is as enjoyable as the one before was, since it's the start of Draco actually starting to pay attention. Thank you for all the kudos and comments, especially to Playgroup, DiverTazSC and gallowsAntagonizer!!!
> 
> Enjoy!

Chapter 3

After a while, Draco roused himself from his deep, contemplative silence, finally giving attention to the quietly shocked woman next to him. He didn't think she was even aware of the tears running down her face, as she stared aimlessly at her hands folded in her lap. Draco still didn't entirely understand what had just happened, but he knew that he had to make sure Amelle was alright. 

And if he managed to wriggle some answers out of her in the process, well, who would blame him? 

Kneeling before her, Draco experienced a disorienting sense of déjà vu, absently wondering if he was going to spend the entirety of his relationship with Amelle on his knees, comforting her as she cried over Teddy. Shaking away the thoughts, he focused on her pale face, silently wiping away her tears. Luckily, no new one replaced them and soon her face was relatively dry, if not a bit splotchy red. He tucked one reddish curl behind her ear, before whispering softly.

"Amelle. Amelle, it's going to be fine. Teddy doesn't really hate you, he was just being a fi-six year old. You'll see, after he had had a bit of time to calm down, he'll realise that you only want the best for him. Children as young as him doesn't usually understand the love their guardians have for them, but I will go speak to him." Amelle's hands shot out, gripping Draco's arm so hard her nails left small red crescents on his skin. He waited patiently for her to get over her anxiety attack, though he was unsure what caused it this time. 

"No, don't go to speak to him. You saw how he looked. In this condition, I'm not sure of what he would do…" The blond man gazed at her, puzzled by her reluctance as the distraught woman muttered quietly to herself. Hearing a whispered exhale that sounded suspiciously like the name 'Harry', he leaned closer, palming one of her cheeks and staring deep into her eyes. His much developed skill of manipulating people came to the forefront in his curiosity to know more about the recent incident.

"Amelle, what do you mean, Teddy's unstable? He's a six year old boy, I'm sure he couldn't hurt a fully grown wizard." Amelle looked up wildly, before her gaze met Draco's and she stared, riveted by the deep luminescent quality of those liquid grey orbs. Her lips parted as she inhaled slightly, and her next words seemed to almost leave her lips without her knowledge. 

"Teddy gets angry with me a lot. When he does, he uses Harry as a weapon against me. You saw how he changed his features. He does that, because he knows how it affects me. When he's in that mood, he blames me for causing Harry to leave. I don't know where he heard that, probably overheard the Weasleys talking about it some time, but when he's this angry, his accidental magic sometimes go out of control, causing things to break and objects to be flung at me. I don't want you subjected to that." 

Her words were so soft that Draco had to strain his ears to hear it, though at the end he wasn't sure if he had his answers or just more questions. The theory that Teddy had been led to believe Harry's abandonment of them was due to Amelle was something Draco could see the Weasleys carelessly speaking about and thus influencing an impressionable young boy's mind.

As if knowing they were speaking about him, a crash sounded overhead and a full-body flinch travelled through Amelle. Draco glanced up at the ceiling, a frown marring his face, before he turned to smile reassuringly at the distraught woman. 

"Don't worry. I was a bit of a brat myself, I assure you Teddy can do nothing to me that I haven't done myself as a child. I just want to see him calm down, before he hurts himself." Amelle still looked hesitant, but didn't try to stop him when he patted her hand and left, heading for the stairs. Arriving at the top, he headed down the hallway to where Teddy's room was located. The door, however, stood open and Draco could see no trace of the small boy. He looked around, before he heard another crash further down the hallway. 

Frowning, he continued down the hallway, straining his ears to hear any hint of where Teddy was hiding. Just as he was about to pass another doorway, he heard a distant crash sounding behind it. Glancing around, he cautiously opened the door, his thoughts becoming even more confused when he saw a small rickety staircase leading up into darkness.

"Teddy? Are you up there?" Draco called, but receiving no answer, he started to ascend the wooden steps. Casting a simple lumos charm, he tried to squint through the darkness. Calling out for the little boy again, he thought he heard indistinct voices muttering. Even more curious, he continued to climb, his ears catching any small noise that drifted from the darkness. 

"Teddy! I need to talk to you! I'm coming up!" As his voice echoed up the narrow staircase, he could practically feel the suffocating silence it left in its wake. Blinking, he had just decided to stop dawdling and see where this passage goes, when the pattering of little feet caused him to pause. 

"Cousin Draco!" 

Teddy appeared above him out of the gloom, almost running down the uneven stairs. Draco hurriedly lifted a hand to steady the boy when it seemed as if he was going to stumble, catching the tiny body in his arms.

"Teddy, what were you doing up there? I thought I heard voices?" Teddy stared at him with big eyes, the amber glinting off the light of the Lumos and his blue hair seeming eerie in the dim light. 

"I was talking to Talon." Draco's frown deepened and he took in Teddy's seemingly guileless expression. "Who is Talon? Why haven't I met him?" 

Teddy seemed confused as he replied. "But you have met him. He's my phoenix." 

With those words, Teddy gestured to the small toy phoenix sitting on his shoulder and Draco looked at it, hesitating as his suspicions lingered. Toy phoenixes didn't have voices to reply with, but then, he wasn't sure if he had heard one or two voices, it was too far to be certain. 

"Well, alright, but I need to talk to you about what happened downstairs." Teddy seemed to hunch into himself, expecting a scolding and Draco couldn't help but smile. A familiar warm feeling was welling up inside of him and he made sure Teddy sat comfortably on his hip as he navigated the staircase down.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to scold you, I'm your cousin, not your parent. Yes, it wasn't a very nice thing you did to Aunt Amelle, but you two should sort that out. However, I wanted to ask you something else." Teddy seemed slightly confused, but didn't protest when Draco looked at him inquiringly. 

"Do you think it's your Aunt's fault that Uncle Harry left?" Amber eyes widened as Teddy bit his lip, his hair going a bright pink. He couldn't look Draco in the eye, instead burying his face in Draco's neck. The tall man sighed as he stroked the boy's back soothingly. 

"It's all right, you don't have to talk about t if you don't want to. I just want you to know that no matter what anyone said, your Aunt Amelle cares very much about and I really don't think Uncle Harry was driven away because of her. You see, I knew your godfather in school and he wasn't the type of person who would run away if he didn't like someone. He would stand and fight."

Teddy peeked up, his eyes turning the same grey of Draco's, excitement shining in those innocent orbs. "You knew Uncle Harry? Were you his friend?" 

A wry grin graced the pale face as the Slytherin thought of his various fights with his Gryffindor rival. "Not really, we were more like rivals. You see, he was a Gryffindor and I was a Slytherin, we were almost destined to not get along. Though despite the fact that your godfather could annoy the magic out of me, he was also someone I later on respected. So even though we weren't friends, I knew him pretty well. And I'm sure he wouldn't leave if he had a problem with your Aunt and his wife." 

Teddy was quiet, seemingly contemplating Draco's words as they came up to his room. A flustered Amelle was pacing in the room, her face showing profound relief when she saw Draco with Teddy on his hip. She rushed forwards, though she luckily got a hold of herself before she ripped the boy from Draco's arms. She took a deep breath, composing herself as she smiled shakily at them. Once again Draco felt a sliver of unease at the obsessive way she had to know where Teddy was, but pushed it away.

"Teddy. Where did you go?" Teddy seemed to get smaller as he curled against Draco, mumbling something. Though Draco couldn't hear the quiet words, it was evident Amelle was more experienced at deciphering Teddy's mumbles, as she immediately responded, going a bit pink in her cheeks. 

"You were talking to Talon? Haven't I told you not to? When will you learn to listen? I only want the best for you, and talking to Talon is not it!" Draco felt as if a frown was going to be permanently etched into his forehead and he held the quivering boy a little tighter, though he said nothing. He didn't understand why Amelle was freaking out about Teddy talking to his toy bird, but maybe she thought it wasn't healthy for her child to have an imaginary friend. 

Draco remembered his father having a similar reaction when he found out about his own imaginary friends. Amelle seemed to slump into herself and she sat heavily in the rocking chair in the room. She massaged her forehead, before she looked up. Draco could see the worry and weariness in her eyes. 

"All right, I'm sorry Teddy. I won't try to replace your phoenix. In return, will you at least try to get along with me, and not fight with me the entire time? I love you so much and I want us to become closer."

Teddy clutched Draco closer, his entire body tense and Draco continued to rub his back, stroking his fine hair with his other hand. Finally, the pink hair bobbed as the boy nodded, peeking at Amelle through his fringe. Draco breathed a sigh of relief at the wide smile Amelle sported. They were going to be just fine.

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The weeks afterwards blurred into one another, filled with Draco helping Teddy to take photos for his album, urging Amelle to go out with Teddy on picnics and the like and Draco catching up with his friends. He had so far not heard anything more from Granger, but he was sure she was still researching her suspicions about Amelle. He, however, couldn't care less. It was nearing the time that his mother would come to visit and he wanted her to meet Teddy, and by extension, Amelle. 

Andromeda had seemed hesitant to let Teddy meet the Lady Malfoy, but Amelle on the other hand, seemed equal parts nervous and excited about meeting Draco's mother. The blond wasn't sure what Teddy thought, as the bubble-gum haired boy had regarded him solemnly for a while and then nodded his head, seemingly deep in thought. Draco wondered sometimes if the young boy had heard terrifying stories about his mother, since she was usually lumped together with his father's horrid deeds, but then the boy would surprise him with asking about the most innocuous questions about Narcissa's personality, likes and dislikes.

So it ended up that on the day of Narcissa's arrival at the Malfoy Mansion, the foyer was decorated artfully with smooth vases containing an artfully arranged selection of Narcissus, otherwise known as Jonquils and roses, for Draco's birth and Snowdrops, for Lucius's birthday in January. Teddy was dressed smartly while still being casual, almost a mirror image of Draco, while Amelle wore a long flowing dress of dark cream, with emerald studs glittering on her ears, making her eyes pale in comparison. 

Absentmindedly, Draco made a note to himself to buy her some nice jade earrings that would fit with her pale eyes. The majority of his attention, however, was focused on the twanging wards that announced the arrival of his mother, a second before the great front doors swung open.

Narcissa stepped in, her head held high as she handed her white winter robe to a bowing elf, the ice blue of her dress making her eyes all the brighter. A small smile showed on her lips at the sight of Draco, though it disappeared as she turned to survey the house guests. Something like nostalgia flashed through her ice blue orbs as it alighted upon Teddy and his Malfoy blond hair, but it vanished quickly as her gaze travelled over Amelle. The auburn hared woman's smile was strained as she curtsied lightly, murmuring a greeting.

"Well my Dragon, it has been a while since I last saw you. I do apologise that I was unable to visit last month and only very briefly before that, but you know how France was that time of year." Draco inclined his head as he headed towards his mother. 

"Of course mother, no apology necessary. I'm just happy you could come now. I have missed you." Draco smiled as he embraced his mother, feeling her hug him back quickly but strongly, before she withdrew, smiling. Then she turned back to Teddy. 

"And I assume this young man is Theodore Remus Lupin. Show me what you originally look like child." 

Teddy glanced at Draco, who smiled at him, before his hair darkened to straight black hair, with amber eyes peeking up at the blond woman before him. "Hmmm, you have the Black hair and chin, as well as the shape of your eyes, but your nose and eye colour is all your father's I presume. I dare say you got his tameable hair as well, since Black hair is usually very curly."

Teddy grinned happily, jiggling up and down in excitement. "Grandma says that I look more like my mother, but with all my father's good features. She also says she wishes I had inherited my father's calm nature, but alas, I will likely give her grey hairs with my excitable and inane behaviour instead." 

Draco stifled a laugh at what was clearly Aunt Andromeda's words pouring out of the boy and could see his mother was amused as well. Amelle looked a bit pale, but she kept quiet, allowing Teddy to chatter away. "I'm not really sure what inane means, but it can't be that bad, since Grandma always smiles when she says that." 

The Slytherin snorted, grey eyes sparkling as he met his mother's blue. "Well, next time tell your Grandma that maybe if she gets enough grey hair, it will turn white like mine, then she will look like a Malfoy." 

Draco almost lost it at his mother's comment, knowing how unimpressed Andromeda would be at that remark and he wished he could see it when Teddy told her, since the young boy seemed entirely too excited at that prospect.

"Well, now that you've met Teddy, I would like to introduce you to Amelle Potter, his guardian and Potter's wife." Amelle curtsied again hastily, having regained her confidence at Narcissa's joking comment to Teddy and proof that she was human. 

"Pleased to meet you Lady Malfoy. Draco has told me much about you, all flattering I assure you." Narcissa eyes narrowed slightly, imperceptible to all but those who knew her well, like Draco. 

"Of course it would be complimentary, do you mean to say he would speak ill of me behind my back?" Amelle's eyes widened and she hastened to reassure Narcissa that was not what she meant, but the regal woman spoke over her. "Besides, he had not told me much about you. Tell me, what is your maiden name?" 

Pale jade eyes glanced worriedly at Draco, seeking assistance, but he had no idea why his mother was acting this way, so he just shrugged his shoulders. "It's Bordeaux Lady." Narcissa pursed her lips slightly, before she made as small sound in the back of her throat and turned away, walking gracefully towards one of the archways.

"Draco, I will see you in the Solarium. If you would ask Mappy to prepare some Earl Grey, that would be lovely darling. And you young man. If you come with me, I will regale you with stories of your grandmother's blunders during her childhood. There may even be cookies involved." Teddy cheered, running after the slender blue-clad figure and took one perfectly manicured hand in his as his excited babble faded away as they left the room. 

Amelle seemed to sag into herself, trembling slightly. "Amelle? I really am sorry about my mother, she does not usually act that way." 

A frail smile lit on her features and she shook her head as she straightened. "No worries. I will just have to get her to know me better and thus win her over." 

Draco grinned encouragingly, but in his heart he had a worry that it would not be as simple as Amelle painted to be. He knew his mother and though she was an exemplary Malfoy, she had the stubbornness of a Black and would not be swayed easily.

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Teddy's laughter rang out over the Manor grounds as he chased Draco's old practice snitch on his toy broom. Though it could only go about two meters off the ground, the little boy was enjoying himself immensely. Draco and Narcissa was seated under a big oak tree a few feet away, drinking tea and nibbling on scones and cake that was placed on the glass table between them. Draco chuckled as Teddy wobbled dangerously on the broom, before righting himself, losing the snitch in the process. 

A smile was also playing on Narcissa's lips and the Slytherin knew his mother was completely wrapped around Teddy's little finger. It had been a week since she had arrived and today was the first day she was alone with him and Teddy. Amelle had floo'ed him that morning, seeming harried and disheveled and asked in an urgent voice if he could take Teddy for the day, since something important had come up. He wasn't so sure what could be that urgent, since she didn't officially work, but reasoned it could be politically-related, since she held so much sway in the Wizengamot and Ministry.

"Draco, I would like to speak to you about Amelle Bordeaux."

"It's Potter now mother." Draco lazily interrupted, though his mind was in high alert. Narcissa threw him a disapproving glance and continued as if he had not spoken. 

"I want you to be cautious around her. I do not trust her and the Bordeaux' have a long history of being manipulative and self-serving." Draco sat straighter, regarding his mother seriously. 

"They are also known for being loyal to those they care about mother, and fiercely protective. Sounds a lot like the Malfoy reputation, doesn't it?" His mother's full lips thinned into a straight line as her eyes followed the young boy on the broom. 

"Regardless, I want you to watch her. I do not feel comfortable around her and I fear she is hiding something. Their family is one that has been known to tamper with matters that should best be left alone, usually with the worst consequences for all but themselves." 

Draco's own suspicions and thoughts about Amelle's odd behaviour surged to the front of his mind, but he pushed it forcefully down, turning back to Teddy. Nodding his head slightly, he saw his mother relax out of the corner of his eye.

After that, they continued lounging in the garden, enjoying the rare sunny day as they listened to the tinkling laughter of a child.

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Draco sighed as he tucked a sleepy Teddy into bed. His mother had left earlier that day and Amelle had collapsed into bed from the stress she had experienced trying to cater to the Lady Malfoy's every whim. Despite the auburn haired woman's efforts to win over Narcissa, the regal woman had continued to shun her, talking only to her when it would be impolite to not do so. 

Draco could see the hopeless slump in Amelle's shoulders every time she was ignored and the atmosphere of despair that enveloped her with every thinly-veiled insult. Despite the irritation that welled up within Draco at his mother's behaviour, he knew she would not listen to him should he complain and besides, Teddy was overjoyed to finally meet his cousin Draco's mother and the pale man did not want to ruin that for the small boy by fighting with her. 

With his mother finally gone, Draco hoped Amelle could now relax and finally bond with Teddy, as there hadn't been enough progress in that direction to satisfy Teddy's guardian.

Teddy's soft mumbled sleep-talk roused Draco from his thoughts and he smiled as he brushed the dark strands out of the boy's face, causing him to shift in his sleep. As he watched, he saw the strands lighten to a light blue, before darkening back to black. It always fascinated him to see the changes Teddy's features underwent as he slept, as his dreams influenced him unconsciously. So far, the colour of Teddy's hair and eyes was still random, mostly dictated by his moods, but he was getting better at imitating other people and controlling his ability, as seen when he imitated the face of Harry Potter. 

Since his last fight with Amelle on his birthday, there have been a few quarrels, but most of them were resolved with a few words from Draco, with only one resulting in Teddy disappearing for a few hours again.

Draco suspected he was taking refuge wherever the stairs lead to, but since every time he considered going up the stairs, he was distracted by Teddy or Amelle, he had no idea what was up there. He thought it would probably just be a play room for Teddy, considering the amount of time he spent there, but he could not be sure. In any case, it wasn't his business to know every corner of Potter Manor and he preferred to keep his nose out of it if it didn't involve Teddy's safety. 

So far, Teddy seemed fine when he emerged from the dingy staircase and the one time he had seen Amelle come down from it with Teddy in tow, she had seemed a bit ruffled, but considering the crashed he heard, he accepted her explanation of tripping over one of Teddy's toys. He wasn't entirely sure she was being truthful to him about it, but he never seemed concerned enough to push her for an answer.

Standing up, Draco kissed Teddy's forehead, before he headed for the door, tiredly thinking of the guest room that Amelle had graciously offered him to use for when he stayed over. He was so exhausted, that he didn't see the book before he almost tripped over it, catching himself on the edge of the small green bookcase just in time to prevent a painful fall. Looking down in irritation, he recognized the album he had given Teddy and a smile twitched his lips as he remembered the photo-spree the small boy went on in the month and a half since his birthday.

Glancing to the bed to check that he had not woken his sleeping cousin, he sat down gingerly in the open space on the boy's carpet, opening the album at the front page after turning on Teddy's wolf lamp. Since the album wasn't filled entirely yet, the magic would not yet activate, but that was fine with the Slytherin, since he wanted to look at all the photos. Thumbing through the pages, a small smile played at the corners of his lips as his gaze fell upon the grinning face of Teddy. There were photos of him and Teddy flying on Draco's broom, Teddy whooping as a big smile split his face, of Teddy playing in the garden, of Draco and Amelle talking. 

One photo had Draco chuckling, as he watched a soapy Teddy chasing coloured bubbles that poured from the tip of Draco's wand, before running over to give Draco a wet, sticky hug, causing Draco to start spluttering before he chased the small boy around the garden. There were random photos of beetles and birds flitting around in the garden and surprisingly, one of Narcissa and Andromeda talking over tea. 

Draco was not aware that his mother had picked up contact with his aunt again and judging by the stiff lines in their shoulders, it was a recent occurrence, but the next photo showed them more relaxed, as Teddy bounded into the photo with them, causing both women to smile.

Draco couldn't help but notice that photos of Amelle were rare and the only time she appeared in the album, was if Draco or Teddy was in the photo with her. There were lots of single shots of Draco and even a few of his mother and Aunt, but none of Amelle. Deciding to ask Teddy about this later, he paged on until he reached the last few photo's, noting that over three quarters of the book had been filled. 

Closing the album quietly, Draco was about to place it back on the bookcase where it probably fell from, when a loose photograph fluttered from between the pages where it was tucked in near the back. 

Frowning, he stooped to pick it up, wondering why Teddy hadn't placed it with the other photos. Turning it around, Draco could feel himself freezing, his heart thumping loudly in his ears and his blood draining from his face. His body started shaking and he suddenly realized that he was holding his breath. Exhaling unevenly, he had to remind himself to inhale again, as his breath turned ragged. He blinked once, twice, but the sight in front of him didn't change. 

Closing his eyes, he forced himself to calm down, to think rationally, because it couldn't be possible what his eyes were telling him. Taking a deep breath, he waited till the turmoil in his mind cooled down, taking slow, continuous breaths to centre himself. Opening his eyes, he looked at the photo again, sure it would be different this time.

Still the face of Harry Potter stared back at him, with a grinning six-year old Teddy beside him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dum Dum Da DUUUUM!!!!! Hahahaha, there you go, hope it was good. I'm looking forward to comments and kudos, since you guys spoiled me with the previous chapters:D Any questions will be answered asap, so feel free to fire away!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I’m soooo sorry that I post the chapter this late (since it’s about 8pm here where I am) but today was terrible! It was literally 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit) today and is still around 38/100 degrees. I am not used to this type of heat!!  
> But, I finally dragged myself away from my fan (no air-conditioning sadly) to post this chapter, so a big thanks to all the kudos, as well as an icy glass of water (since that’s what I’m craving now) to those who commented: Avatar Aang, EntWolf, DivertazSC and Angie Alex!

**Chapter 4**

Potter's eyes was dull and without life, but Teddy seemed to be brimming with excitement. As the small boy bounced in place besides Potter, the dark-haired man turned to look at the boy and Draco could see the ghost of a smile on his lips. As his gaze trailed over the impossible photo, he noticed a window in the background, looking over the back of the Potter gardens, smashing his hope that the photo was taken somewhere else and that Potter was visiting Teddy without Amelle's knowledge. Of course, she could still be ignorant, Draco could see Potter knowing of secret passageways and never telling her, but something inside him scoffed at that thought. Amelle was too shrewd to not notice an uninvited visitor in her house and she paid too much attention to Teddy for the small boy to manage to hide this from her.

Besides, there seemed to be something wrong with Potter. If it wasn't for the small movements the man made, he would have thought he was a corpse. He was certainly pale and thin enough to pull it off. Now that Draco looked closer, he could see the dark shadows beneath the red-rimmed eyes, the gaunt cheeks and straggly hair. Potter's bottom lip showed dark patches from where he had chewed it, causing Draco to wonder whether teddy learned the habit from Granger after all. The man in the photo twitched every now and then, abrupt cut-off movements that made him look as if he had to go to the bathroom. The question still stood, however, of what Potter was doing in England, since he was supposed to be travelling without a care in the world, like the brash Gryffindor he was.

Suddenly Draco remembered all the odd noises he heard and disregarded over the months, the times Amelle seemed ruffled and harried. He remembered all the times a house elf had called her, causing her to leave to deal with urgent business. At this train of thought, another moment popped into his head. Teddy, looking exactly like Potter and Amelle's reaction to it. Granger's suspicions and theories, along with the strange room Teddy disappeared into all the while. Draco sat down hard on the carpet, his mind spinning around in confusion and hesitant revelation. Potter had to be in the house.

But… Why? Why would Amelle want people to think that the Boy Who Lived had run away? Why was Potter allowing people to think that? The Potter he remembered would never stand for it, in fact, he was too magically powerful for anyone to be able to tame him. Well, the git was maybe not the strongest wizard ever and he knew there were people magically stronger, but Amelle definitely wasn't one of them. For all her political power and social standing, she was relatively weak magic-wise. Draco had trained himself to feel a witch or wizard's magic in the months that Voldemort had inhabited his house. It had helped to deduce when one of the Death Eaters or Voldemort himself was in a dangerous mood, since their magic spiked or built up, alerting him to their foul or sadistic disposition.

Amelle was always a bit below average, with Draco and Teddy's magic being stronger than hers, though with teddy it was more because of the wild edge he had gotten due to his father being a werewolf. If it was true and Amelle is somehow keeping Potter prisoner, he could understand how Teddy couldn't fight back, since he had no control over his magic yet, but Potter? Potter should have been able to resist easily.

Despite his non-interference rule he made for himself, Draco couldn't help but be intrigued. His curiosity always took precedence where Potter was concerned. It was one of the reasons he had met Amelle in the first place, her connection to Potter as his wife intriguing him. He had wondered what sort of woman could convince a gay Potter to marry her and his curiosity had led him by the nose right to the small shop where they met.

Now it was again peeking its head, determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. And what better time than the present? Draco would have waited if he thought it too risky, but it wasn't every day that Amelle took a small headache potion mixed with a light sleeping draught to help her relieve her stress and actually sleep through the night. Teddy was also sound asleep and most of the house elves listened to him after Teddy told them to treat him like they treated Teddy, which was like the master of the house.

Draco had noticed that most of the elves also preferred Teddy above Amelle, though they weren't so open in their distaste, but the sneaked snacks when Amelle had explicitly told them not too was quite telling. At the time, he had reasoned that they were Potter's elves for two years and probably influenced by Granger's ridiculous campaign of House Elf Welfare, but now he couldn't help but think it might be something else. Like the fact that the Mistress was imprisoning their Master.

Standing up abruptly, he placed the photo back in the album and made his way out of the room, never noticing the small boy stirring sleepily behind him. He strode down the hallway, determined to this time make it all the way up the stairs and see what lied beyond it, even if he was sure he knew exactly what he would find. Arriving in front of the nondescript door, he glanced around, feeling no wards around the entrance.

Opening it slowly he started to climb the stairs, cringing at every creak the old wood made. His heart was thudding in his ears and he swallowed heavily as he climbed further into the gloom. Taking out his wand, he whispered 'lumos' and the eerie off-white light illuminated the narrow staircase. Ascending higher and higher, he squinted to see anything beyond the light his wand gave off, but the darkness swallowed any clue as to where the flight of stairs led. Finally, after what felt like forever, but was actually only about a minute, he came upon a door, where he could feel the heavy residue of dark magic hanging. Stopping in his tracks, he cast some of the more obscure diagnostic charms he had learned in the Malfoy Manor's library, determined to never touch an item that could have been cursed by one of the Death Eaters. It had been a particular habit of his uncle Rodolphus to curse everyday items and watch the unsuspecting inhabitant tortured when they touched it.

Of course, Voldemort had found it too amusing to stop it and Draco had been forced to become a quick study in diagnostic charms.

His charm revealed a mind-altering curse, one that worked on a person's ignorance and twisted their thoughts away from the room beyond and so from the staircase. However, the curse's fatal flaw was that it depended on the victim having no knowledge of what lied beyond the door. If he had just been curious about what was in the room behind the door, his thoughts would have been redirected.

However, since he had detailed knowledge of what he would find behind this door, the curse could not twist his thoughts away. It proved beyond a doubt that his suspicions were true, since he hadn't been distracted from his quest of finding out what lied beyond the door with false suspicions. Draco himself knew of various other curses more fit to hide someone or change thoughts, but he could see the arrogance of Amelle in this curse, her belief that no one would ever find out her guilty secret. Sure, Granger and Weasley had suspected and the Aurors had searched the house, but unless they had been 100% sure Potter was behind this particular door, their thoughts would have been redirected.

Taking one last glance down the gloom of the stairs, he whispered 'alohomora' and pushed the groaning door open, stepping inside the gloomy room. It looked entirely normal, with a big four-poster bed in the middle and a small window across it. A rickety wooden chair stood next to the bed and a magnificent tapestry depicting a single tower with a dragon curled around it hung on the wall opposite the bed.

Looking around, he noticed the thin layer of dust on the furniture. It looked for all the world as if it hadn't been disturbed in years, with no footprints marring the dusty floor. However, Draco, having trained himself to notice magic, could feel the faint whiff of magic coming from the tapestry. Casting his diagnostic charms, he saw that there was an everlasting-dust hex on the tapestry and room, to make people think the room was abandoned. Sure enough, as he crossed the room, he left no footprints behind and soon he stood in front of the colourful work of art.

He examined the scene, reminded of the storybook Teddy had pushed into his lap one evening, telling the tale of a princess locked in a tower that was guarded by a dragon. He had presumed the book came from Granger, since the muggleborn would surely give his cousin muggle fairy tales to read. He had promptly gone out the next day to buy a book on wizarding tales, which he had proceeded to read to Teddy that night. But wait, he was getting off base. Sweeping the tapestry out of the way, he frowned at the smooth expanse of wood behind it. He could feel the shimmer of magic there, but he wasn't sure how to breach it.

He remembered the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts and tried walking back and forth thinking about his desire to see Potter, but the wood remained frustratingly unblemished. He cast every manner of revealing charms, but nothing showed up. He even tried saying random words out loud, in the hope that it was password related. Despite naming everything he knew was important to Amelle and Teddy, nothing worked and the wooden wall remained a wall. He had made sure early on the tapestry wasn't like platform nine-and-three-quarters that you just stepped through and he was running out of ideas.

Collapsing into the wobbly chair, Draco rested his chin on his hand and glared at the tapestry. His mind was running over various possibilities, but he couldn't seem to get one that worked. Standing up again, he ran his hands over the wood, searching for a groove that could act as a keyhole, but no such luck. Scrutinizing the tapestry closely, he searched for any clue as to how the doorway worked, but the puffing of the dragon continued to sleep peacefully, with smoke billowing from its nostrils every now and then.

Sighing exasperatedly, he was just contemplating blasting through the wood, consequences be damned, when a creak from behind had him whirling about, his wand whipping up. Teddy's frightened eyes gazed into his, his small body cringing behind the open doorway. His hands were clutching his pajama top and Draco exhaled noisily, trying to calm his racing heart.

For a moment, he had thought Amelle had inexplicably waken up and his heart had almost jumped out of his chest. It was only his own considerable experience in battle that had prevented him from squeaking and jumping a foot in the air. As his eyes closed in relief for a second, the small trembling voice of his cousin filtered into his ears.

"You won't get it open that way… It only opens for me or her." Draco blinked, trying very hard not to rush to the boy and demanding what he meant, knowing it would scare the small metamorphmagus. Draco kneeled, ignoring the dust he knew was coating his trousers and opened his arms. This seemed to be the signal Teddy was waiting for, for he rushed forwards, throwing himself in Draco's arms. He enfolded the tiny body in his embrace, breathing in his comforting scent.

Carding his fingers through the ruffled deep blue locks, he felt his cousin relax and he smiled softly. Pulling back, he looked into anxious amber eyes, smiling to show the boy he wasn't mad at him, though why the boy would think that was beyond him. Or wait, he had just pointed his wand at him in a threatening manner. No wonder he seemed so frightened. Sighing, he turned his attention back to Teddy.

"Teddy, what did you mean, when you said the door only opens for you or her?" The little boy chewed his lip, his eyes flickering back and forth between Draco, the tapestry and the open doorway. Finally, he took a deep breath, his voice sounding small and shaky.

"Aunt Amelle said I shouldn't ever tell people, especially not you… But you're my cousin and you're nice to me… You take me to Play Parks and do fun things with me…" Draco stayed silent, not willing to force the boy he had come to love like a son to tell him something that Amelle had forbidden him. Glancing towards the door one last time, he seemed to straighten his shoulders, turning burning eyes on Draco. The Slytherin felt pinned by that uncharacteristically serious gaze, feeling as if the boy was staring into his soul.

He seemed to have passed some test, as Teddy opened his mouth and whispered softly.

"You know who is there, right? Why else would you be here? Aunt Amelle once told me that no one can ever find this room, because she had magicked it so. She also told me that only she can go through the door and that I shouldn't go there, because I could get hurt. But… One day, when I was four, I was playing in Uncle Harry's old room and I found his Hogwarts trunk beneath the bed. In it was his cloak that makes you invisible. I knew about it, because uncle Ron had always told me about the trouble he and uncle Harry had made with that cloak. So when I found it, I used it to follow Aunt Amelle one time, to slip into the room while she opened the door. After she left, I finally took it off, to explore the room. I had hid after she entered the room, not wanting her to find me, so I didn't see everything in the room, only heard strange noises. When I explored the room, I saw someone sleeping in the corner…"

Teddy stopped speaking and Draco was once again struck by how mature the six year old acted. He was not surprised the boy had to grow up quickly, knowing what he did now.

"It was uncle Harry," Draco was ripped out of his musings as Teddy continued, "but he was different. All the photos I saw showed him laughing and alive, but this uncle Harry didn't know me. When he woke up, I was scared, because he looked as if he was going to attack me. But… he didn't. Instead he watched me and after I realised he wasn't going to do anything, I went closer, trying to talk to him and even if he never talks back, I know he listens. When I had to leave, I was so sad, because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to sneak back in.

"It was then that uncle Harry looked at me and seemed to see that I was sad, because he tried to hug me, though he wasn't very good at it. When he tried to hug me, my phoenix I had gotten from him when I was a baby fell out of my pocket. I think he recognized it, because he picked it up and seemed to stare at it. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light and when he gave it back to me, he pointed to the door. I didn't know it, but he had made it that if I had the phoenix on me, I could go through the door. I don't know how he did it, but I can visit him whenever I want. When aunt Amelle had found out I was visiting uncle Harry, she was very angry."

Teddy's voice was so low that Draco had to strain to hear him, hoping that Amelle had not hurt his young cousin in her anger. He was relieved when he heard the boy's next words however.

"But she never knew how I got inside, so she couldn't stop me, no matter how hard she tried. She made a deal with me. If I didn't tell anybody about uncle Harry, then she wouldn't kill him and I could visit him. That's why she doesn't like me to be without her. She doesn't want me to tell anyone. She had warned me not to tell you that day you took me to the Play Park, otherwise she would hurt uncle Harry. But now you found out, without me telling you and maybe she's gonna hurt uncle Harry now and then it would be all my fault!..."

Draco pulled Teddy back into his embrace, soothing the sobbing boy as he felt anger bubbling beneath the surface. He might have started to care for Amelle as a friend, but no stupid psychotic bitch could threaten his cousin and get away with it! He didn't understand why Potter allowed this to happen. After all, the man could apparently still do magic beyond what Amelle knows, so why didn't he simply break out? It didn't make sense to the blond man, but he would soon enough find out the answer.

After a seeming age, Teddy's sobs grew quitter, his body shaking with the occasional hiccup. Rubbing his back, the pale man sought for the right words as he cradled the frail boy in his arms.

"Don't worry, my little cousin, I will not let Amelle find out that I know about uncle Harry. It will be our little secret all right? I will try to help your uncle, to get him and you away from Amelle, but for me to do that, you need to pretend as if I don't know about this. It is going to take time to find a solution to all of this, so you need to act as normal as possible ok." The greyish-blue locks bobbed as the boy nodded, clinging to his shirt tighter for a second, before letting go. Wiping at his red eyes, he smiled timidly, causing Draco's heart to warm, before taking Draco's hand.

Standing up, the man followed the boy to the tapestry. The young metamorphmagus peeked back at him, before he stepped through the tapestry as if it wasn't there. As his hand was still cradling the smaller one, he stepped after the boy, feeling as if he passed through a veil of water, without the wetness that accompanied water normally.

Opening his eyes that he had unconsciously closed, he curiously looked around. The room was small, but not claustrophobic. There was a fireplace crackling merrily in one corner, with a small bed in the opposite corner. A couch sat in front of the fireplace, with toys crammed into a chest next to it. He recognized some of Teddy's toys that he thought the boy had lost, including the miniature dragon. Obviously the boy had wanted to show them to his uncle. The walls were bare and the bookcase that stood against the wall next to the doorway was lined with thick dust.

Obviously, the books were never touched and he absently wondered why. If he was locked away in a room, he would want to read something to pass the time. Not that he would ever allow himself to be locked away, but still. Near the fireplace, there was an ancient house elf sitting in a sturdy rocking chair, knitting contently. That changed as soon as she saw them.

"Oh, Master Teddy, you should not be here so late, Mistress would be-Master Teddy! What is Master's Dragon doing here?! Mistress would be so angry at Binky! Master knows no one may come here!" The house elf named Binky was wailing as she wrung her ears, overcome with panic at the sight of Draco. "Oh, Mistress would make Binky boil her hands and then give her clothes! Oh, Mistress, Mistress, Binky is sorry!" Teddy jumped forward and said in a voice much sharper than Draco had heard before.

"Binky, I forbid you to tell Aunt Amelle that I brought Draco here! She must not know Cousin Draco came here, ok! Draco is going to help uncle Harry, so you must treat him as if he is Master Draco, ok. This is very important Binky." Binky blinked her big, round eyes, tears flowing thickly from them. Draco thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, from beyond the bed, but he had to focus on the mad house elf that may or may not tell Amelle he had been here and he delegated it to the back of his mind.

Binky wrung her hands for another second, before her ears seemed to wilt and she muttered just hard enough for Draco to hear. "Binky not being here tonight. Binky not sees anything, doesn't know that Master Draco is in Master Harry Potter's room. Binky was being sleeping."

And with that, the house elf promptly departed with a crack, leaving silence behind. Draco let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, before he smiled at Teddy. Walking over, he placed his hands on the tiny boy's shoulders.

"Well, that went-"

A snarl interrupted him mid-speech and he swung around in time to see something leap from the direction of the bed, teeth and crazed eyes flashing in the firelight. Yelping, he scrambled away, trying to drag Teddy with him, only to freeze in terror as he felt the amber-eyed boy ripped out of his hands. His eyes widened as he saw a dark blur jump back over the bed to crouch behind it. Blood rushed through his veins as he felt adrenalin pumping through him at the thought of Teddy being mauled by a wild animal, never mind how the creature got into the room in the first place.

All thought was wiped from his mind in the panic he felt for his cousin, causing him to forget why he was here in the first place. Flicking his wand, he brightened the room painfully, to eradicate all shadows and to locate the beast that had kidnapped his cousin.

Instead he looked fast into demented emerald eyes, set in a gaunt face. His lips were pulled back in a snarl, his hair matted and greasy around the pale face. Harry Potter sat huddling behind the bed, cradling Teddy protectively as he growled threateningly at Draco, his eyes devoid of any human intelligence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go! There will be steadily more revealed over the next few chapters, so stay tuned!!! Please leave a comment, it does my heart good to read them;)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, I'm mighty excited about this chapter, though now that I read it again, there doesn't really happen that much compared to other chapters that's still coming. Anyway, THANK YOU to everyone who gave kudos to the story. Also, a HUUUUGE thanks to those who commented: diddleymaz, idd, DiverTazSC and phoenixfire2390! You guys keep me going!
> 
> Also, does anyone know how to change it so that the 'end notes' for Chapter 1 stays at Chapter 1 and not at the end of every chapter? Sorry, that sounded convoluted, but not sure how else to say it. Any advice would be great:)

It was as if his voice fled him and he could hear the choked up words getting stuck in his throat. Some part of his brain clinically told him he was going into shock, while another part gleefully yelled about how he always knew Potter was a barbaric beast with no mind.

The majority of his brain, however, was trying to connect the image he had of Potter after the war, tired, but victorious and strong, to the clearly insane man drooling in front of him like some sort of animal.

Potter was foaming at the mouth as he tried to move deeper into the non-existent shadows, keeping his wild eyes trained on Draco. For a person who looked so feral and ready to snap at the slightest movement of a perceived threat, his hands were ridiculously gentle as they cradled Teddy to his body, the fingers that moments before formed the clawed hands rushing at his face now soft and caring.

Hysterical laughter tried to bubble up in his throat, but he ruthlessly pushed it down, his eyes blinking rapidly. A particularly loud snarl shocked Draco into a shuddering step backwards, though he immediately stopped his retreat.

Steeling his shoulders, he took a cautious step forward and the dark haired man skittered beneath the single-person four-poster bed in reaction to his movement, growling fiercely. Letting out a breath, Draco carefully sat down, acknowledging the fact that to move closer could prove hazardous to himself and perhaps Teddy.

He could hear Teddy murmuring quietly to Potter, though he could not see them, his light not reaching under the bed. He briefly contemplated moving to the couch, which looked quite comfortable, but another growl as he moved to stand convinced him that he was perfectly comfortable in his spot on the smooth oak floor.

As he lounged back, trying not to stare too hard to where the young metamorphmagus and his godfather had disappeared, he allowed his mind to drift to possible spells that could cause Potter's apparent deterioration into madness.

The little voice in his mind, that he liked to believe a by-product of having Voldemort in his house for months, whispered that Potter's madness could be natural, that he could have snapped after the war, having to deal with adoring fans, expectations and being married to a woman. A weak Gryffindor like Potter would of course not be able to handle the pressure and he had heard whispers of how Voldemort had mocked Potter from within his own mind, planting visions and nightmares.

It would be such a convenient explanation, one that would acquit Amelle of most guilt. Yet Draco knew that to be married to an insane Saviour would have garnered more sympathy than being the abandoned wife of an adventure-seeking Saviour and so Amelle had no reason to try and hide the man.

That left other ways of inducing madness and he went over them as he waited for Teddy to coax the defensive man from beneath the bed. He knew a person can go insane from being a victim of the Cruciatus curse for too long, but they are usually passive and didn't recognize anyone, much too different from Potter's aggressive actions and his protection of Teddy.

Of course, it could just be that he is a unique case, but Draco would prefer to find something with symptoms being a bit closer before he decided. His decision might possibly have been influenced by the knowledge that there is no known cure for a person driven to madness by the Cruciatus Curse.

An Obliviate victim, at the worst, would be like a very young child that had no way of retaining memories, so that ruled another spell out. He supposed a skilled Legilimens, like the Dark Lord or Professor Snape could alter a person's mind enough so that they behaved like Potter, but he knew Amelle was no Legilimens, at least, not a skilled one, though she was an exceptionally skilled Occlumens.

However, she had once confided in him, when he asked her about her talent in the mental art, that as a child her father had her mind altered by a professional Mind Walker, who had erected permanent shields in her mind. Based on that information, he can't see her holding enough talent to do such skilled work and a botched attempt would result in far different damage.

He supposed she could have been lying to him, but his own above average talent in Legilimency helped him discern when people lied to him, though he realised now that his own talent in Occlumency also made it convenient to deceive himself, as proven by his ignorance of what went on right beneath his nose.

Another possibility is that Amelle had hired a professional to do the dirty work for her, but it was hard to believe that someone would do that to Potter and not brag about it, even if it only circulated in the deepest of the blacker parts of society. And despite what he might think of Amelle now, he didn't think she had in her to murder someone, so she couldn't have gotten rid of the professional she hired that way.

Otherwise, why not just kill Harry and get rid of his body?

After eliminating several other spells, he finally concluded that it had to be some kind of potion. He would have to go do research to figure out which one, because for all he knew it could be one Amelle had created, since he had no idea if she was good in potions, or it could be a particularly obscure one he hadn't read about before.

Somehow the knowledge that he didn't recognise the potion used to cause this on sight irritated him and he resolved to correct his insufficient knowledge as soon as possible. He did, after all, want to become a Potions Master one day.

A soft crooning drew his attention and his gaze was drawn to the small figure of Teddy shuffling from beneath the bed, slowly beckoning to the other still hid within its shadows. Eerie glowing Avada Kedavra eyes stared at him suspiciously, before flicking pleadingly to the small boy urging him to come out.

After a moment, in which Teddy slowly moved farther away from the bed, closer to Draco, a high-pitched whine broke forth from Potter's mouth and he hurriedly crawled out, seemingly unwilling to let the boy get to close the platinum-haired man.

Draco took the chance to inspect his once rival closer, and noticed that his clothes were filthy and torn, his fingernails broken and his lips dry and cracked. He walked on all fours, though more like an ape than like a baby and his shoulders were hunched in on himself. His eyes were never still, constantly flicking back and forth, before making a circuit of the room, only to once again rest on him or Teddy. A constant rumble seemed to come from deep within his chest, sometimes turning into a whine or growl.

And yet, he could see the human aspects in the animal-like behaviour as well.

His mouth formed silent words, as if he was trying to talk but could not control his vocals. His eyes, which was glazed and wild most of the time, would suddenly sharpen into focus and a fierce intelligence would shine through, before it blanked back into the dull gaze of a madman. His walk was stilted, his body jerking as if he was making frequent aborted attempts at standing upright.

There were times when that attempt won out over his insanity and he would walk a few steps upright, though hunched over, before falling back to his animal-like gait.

Exhaling shakily, he turned his attention to the young boy a mere three feet in front of him.

"See Uncle Harry, Cousin Draco won't hurt me or you. He just wants to help us. He won't be mean to you, I promise. And if he tries to bully you, I will never bring him here again. Right Cousin Draco?"

Teddy threw a sharp glance in Draco's direction and the man cursed Amelle for causing a six-year old boy to grow up so fast, even as he smiled and nodded his agreement. Potter regarded him warily for another moment, before he seemed to lose interest and he wandered away, towards the fire- no wait, towards the chest full of toys.

Rummaging around, he triumphantly turned back to Teddy, holding up a shabby book. In fact, Draco wasn't sure it was a book, it looked more like a bunch of parchment cut into squares and bound together by some twine than a book. Squinting, he could see what looked like those muggle cartoon figures Teddy once showed him moving around on the front page.

"Oh, you wrote on!? Will you show me uncle Harry, you stopped on the worst possible place last time and I was sooo curious about what happened next!" Potter seemed to smile, though it was more the feeling he gave off than any actual change in expression.

Lumbering forwards, it seemed as if he was heading for the fireplace for light, since Draco's light was steadily getting weaker as his adrenalin was washed away, but a piece of the carpet was curled over and as his feet dragged, it got caught on the carpet, causing Potter to fall forwards.

He dimly heard Teddy cry out as the book landed in the fire, the parchment immediately beginning to curl and blacken from the flames. Potter grunted in distress and shoved his hands in the fire, yelping as they were scorched before he could get the book back.

Thinking quickly, the grey-eyed man flicked his wand, causing the book to come sailing towards him. Casting a wordless Aguamenti, he put out the flames and ignored Teddy's anguished whimper at the soggy blackened mess. He could see Potter advancing threateningly towards him, a growl building up in his chest towards a roar, but Draco ignored the verdant-eyed man, even though his instincts were screaming at him to run.

Whispering softly but clearly, Draco ran his wand over the ruined book and he felt Potter pause as the pages slowly straightened and lightened, the moving figures on the front becoming clear as he did so.

He could see three chibi figures smiling up at him, waving and laughing. It looked as if it was drawn in crayon, like the magical set Teddy had somewhere in his room.

Looking closer, he saw that one of them had black untidy hair with brilliant green eyes masked by round glasses, while another had deep blue eyes and shockingly red hair. The last figure, the only female, had bushy brown hair and brown eyes and seemed to be holding a book. It wasn't difficult to see that it was the Golden trio themselves and he wondered how a man as crazy as Potter was could have done this.

Still aware of Potter's hesitant yet still angry presence in front of him, he picked up the book, looking into the feral eyes in front of him. He held out his hand and after a long minute, Potter slowly took the book. He observed Draco for another long moment and the Slytherin swore he saw a flash of recognition in those emerald eyes.

Then the moment passed and Potter shuffled away with a grunt.

Teddy's face brightened and he giggled as he ran towards Potter, hanging on his arm as the man went to sit down on the carpet by the fire. Draco saw he was very careful to keep a tight grip on the book as his godson settled on his lap, before he handed the book to Teddy.

The small boy immediately flipped it open to a well-worn page, before he flipped it over to look at the next page. As the two were occupied with the book, Draco walked closer slowly and settled on the couch with nothing more than a quick glance from the Gryffindor.

Relaxing back, he watched as his cousin chattered excitedly to his godfather, pointing out various details of the drawings and asking questions. Though Potter didn't speak once, Teddy seemed to understand his grunts and rumbles. Either that, or the boy didn't really want answers. Draco could see Potter was sometimes trailing his fingertips over the parchment, which was usually followed by an excited exclamation from Teddy, but since Draco couldn't see what was happening, he merely reclined back and basked in Teddy's laughter.

It was two hours later when he jerked awake from his doze to find Potter's face right in front of his, their noses almost touching. He was quite proud of himself for not jumping up screaming, instead merely blinking at the deep leafy eyes. The ebony-haired man sat back and Draco glanced around to find Teddy curled up by the fire.

Standing up slowly, he was aware of Potter's eyes following his every movement, as well as the tension that suddenly lined Potter's body as he picked his cousin up. Hoping that the man wouldn't attack him, he slowly moved over to the bed, the crazed man dogging his steps. He gently laid the sleeping boy on the bed, pulling the covers over him to protect him from the cold. While he was there, he couldn't help but notice the nest of blankets on the floor next to the bed, as well as the fine layer of dust that coated the bed's sheets.

Obviously, Potter didn't use the bed for sleeping and instead preferred his own corner where his blanket fort was immaculately cared after. Well, at least he supposed it was cared for in Potter's own way, since to Draco it just looked disorganised and dirty.

Turning around, Draco would forever deny the small ' _Eep_ ' that escaped him, as he was confronted with Potter's hand reaching out to him, contorted into a claw and dangerous looking.

However, the man had stopped and after a moment, he let his arm fall back to his side, before moving back to the couch. Draco followed guardedly, making sure to keep the beast-like man in his sights at all times. The Gryffindor was once again sitting on the carpet, staring at the book in his hands. When Draco was close enough, he looked up, regarding the man for long minutes and held out the book towards the pale man.

Blinking, he took the book from his ex-rival, sinking onto the couch as he looked at the three figures on the front page.

Peeking at Potter, he cracked the book open, his interested gaze taking in the cartoon drawings. On the first page was an immaculate house, though quite plain. A small dark haired boy was working in the garden and he could see a rake-thin woman standing over him disapprovingly.

He turned the page to find the same small boy in what looked to be a kitchen, though there were many appliances he didn't recognize. A fat boy with yellow hair sat at a table, stuffing his face as he watched what looked to be a moving picture. Another man sat across him, though Draco was hesitant to call the fat whale of a man a person. The same thin woman, looking vaguely horse-like, was smiling and fussing over the fat boy, before scowling at the small black-haired child cooking something in a pan.

The pictures continued in that order, showing the boy getting thrown in a cupboard under the stairs, followed by him receiving a Hogwarts letter and later, a giant with shaggy hair, whom Draco presumed was Hagrid, showing up to take him to Hogwarts.

Draco recognized the fact that he was watching as Potter's first year in the magical world played out before his eyes and he marvelled that the man had managed to do this.

It was just starting his fourth year when the drawings became a bit more muddled.

Instead of following a consecutive story line, the pictures seemed random and sometimes a bit confused. There was a drawing of the Giant Squid in the lake, three small figures walking by the shore-line. Another showed who he assumed to be Amelle, though she looked quite gentle, not at all like Draco expected Potter to view her. There was one of a snake-like man, which caused Draco to shiver at the likeness, while another showed a stag, wolf, grim and lily flower.

Interspersed between the drawings were abstract pieces, incomprehensible shapes or splashes of colours. Draco puzzled at the change, trying to make sense of the haphazard way the story jumped around, till he arrived at the last page that contained a drawing, one that depicted a sleeping blue-haired baby lying in a cradle.

He frowned, turning the page to find the rest blank and looked up at Potter. Potter was staring at the blank parchment, before his eyes flicked to Draco and then down again.

Lifting his hand, he trailed his fingers over the page and where they touched, ink seemed to spread, forming a small cartoon drawing.

At first, Draco was unsure what he was looking at, but after a moment his cheeks flushed as he looked upon an unmistakable albino ferret that was bouncing as a gruff man with a magical eye pointed his wand at it, surrounded by laughing students.

Despite the humiliating picture Potter had chosen to show him, it did give him a hint as to why the drawings became more unsystematic. He guessed that when Potter began this book, it was near the beginning of his imprisonment and he wasn't as insane as he was now. As his mind became more messed up and muddled, so did his drawings. Now the man immediately drew something he remembered, in order to document it he supposed, though that level of thought seemed a bit unbelievable.

Though Draco was quite miffed that Potter associated him with that particular memory, it did show that the man had made the connection, no matter how abstract it might have been.

After the cartoon was finished, Potter gazed at his new drawing, light sparking behind his eyes, before they deadened and he took the book, cradling it protectively, and shuffled over to his nest, lying down while curled around it.

Gazing after him, Draco took a moment to centre his mind, before he went and picked Teddy up to take him back to his room. As he left the hidden room and walked down the hallways, he couldn't help but remember that sad, haunting green eyes that followed his retreating back.

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Draco hurled the offending book across the room, sighing as he let his head fall into his hands. So far, none of the books in the Malfoy Library came up with decent results concerning Potter and his situation. There were various potions and spells that would cause instant insanity, but seeing as he was sure Potter gradually became more insane, those were ruled out.

He was starting to feel it was hopeless and despite his best efforts, despair was starting to encroach on his mind, along with guilt. And with the guilt came the need to relieve himself of any responsibility. Once again he contemplated the possibility that Potter simply became mad on his own and that there is no great mystery.

Growling, he shook his head, hoping such ridiculous ideas took their leave of his mind. Amelle wouldn't go to such great lengths to hide it if that was true and besides, his friends would have noticed something in the months before he disa-

The Slytherin shot upright. His friends! Granger and Weasel may have some information about how Potter acted right before he supposedly 'ran away' that could be a hint as to what Amelle used! Rubbing his chin, he wondered how he should approach them.

Definitely Granger, seeing as she approached him first and would so be more amendable than Weasley. He knew she worked in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but he wasn't sure it would be wise to confront her in the Ministry. There were too many people that could overhear and if he was right, and face it, he was obviously right, then Amelle must have no chance of finding out he knew about Potter.

His eyes glazed over in thought, he started plotting on how to approach Granger.

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"Malfoy? What are you doing here?" The Weasel's annoying voice grated on his nerves, but he kept his face blank and smiled, gesturing to the bouncing boy besides him.

"I promised Teddy here that I would get him a new toy and he was adamant that he wanted something from Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, so here we are."

Draco could feel Amelle shifting nervously under Ron's glare besides him and he felt a sort of vindictive pleasure at her unease, before he discarded it. For all he knew, Potter could have been such an annoying prat that it justified whatever potion Amelle fed him. However, what he couldn't forgive was the heartache her actions had caused the excited boy running through the store at the moment.

He determinedly ignored the flash of sad green eyes that had been haunting him for the past few days. He turned back to the thinly veiled insults Amelle and Weasley were exchanging, reluctant respect forming for Weasley who was able to keep up quite easily with Amelle's wit.

It had been a gamble to bring Amelle along, he knew, but after careful consideration, he decided it was for the best. He didn't want Amelle to get suspicious or worried that he took Teddy to the Weasleys' without her there to check on them.

Besides, he was confident he could slip the note to Ron without alerting Amelle. In the meantime, he was ambling after Teddy, leaving them to their restrained bickering as he inspected the products. He was in here before the war fully began, but had never cause to come again after the war was over.

Various prank items lined the colourfully painted walls, whirring and squealing away. Students crowded in clusters around the items, giggling or crowing over pranks they could, and would, pull.

The pale man made sure to keep a close eye on the small body slipping between the masses, but when the stocky form of George Weasley appeared at the child's side, prompting a thrilled squeal, Draco decided that Teddy was in good hands.

Instead the blond strolled around, marvelling at the charms work that must have gone into the creation of the shop and finally arrived at a rectangular archway with a piece of deep blue cloth hung in the place of a door. The cloth was like the night sky imprinted on fabric and showed various constellations.

For a moment, Draco just studied the marvellous "door" and wondered where he could find one to hang as a tapestry in his room. Finally he parted the curtain and slipped in the back. There were fewer people in the next room and most of them older than students. Pausing as he felt a ward wash over him, he recognised an age-detecting circle cast on the drape, to prevent any school-going wizards from coming into the room.

Looking around, he saw the reason why, as most of these products were more dangerous and geared towards protection rather than pranks. This included the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder that he had bought in his sixth year, invisibility cloaks with protective charms woven in them, functioning for a few uses only and hats, cloaks and gloves that acted as shields against most curses, excluding the Unforgivables.

He knew he had seen a similar product in the previous room, except it was only serviceable in regards to minor hexes and jinxes.

Browsing the items, he picked a packet of instant darkness and protective gloves for Teddy that he resolved to shrink to fit his hands. Not that he ever thought Amelle would deliberately harm her adopted child, but he would rather be safe than sorry.

Taking his items out, he looked around for Teddy, finding him oohing and aahing over the pygmy puffs, with George explaining how to care for them. Teddy was giggling as a bright blue pygmy puff cuddled into his neck and Draco remembered seeing the Weaslette with one during his sixth year briefly, though that year was a bit of a blur for him. Navigating the throngs, he came up behind Teddy, placing his hand on his shoulder and he bent to look at the miniature Puffskein closely.

"Draco, Draco look! Uncle George said it's the first blue one they bred, isn't he cute!" Teddy's bright blue eyes were shining and Draco couldn't help but grin softly at the boy.

"Well, he's certainly fluffy enough!" Teddy was reverently stroking the small creature, who snuffled happily n contentment and his hopeful eyes turned towards Draco.

"Do you think Aunt Amelle will allow me to get one? I think Talon will love him!" At George's inquiring glance, Draco lifted an eyebrow.

"His toy phoenix." Turning back to Teddy, he continued. "Well, I'm not sure; you'll have to ask Aunt Amelle, won't you?"

Nodding, the boy shot off in search of his guardian and Draco watched as long as he was able to see the shock of blue hair in the throngs.

"So, Teddy seems fond of you. Never thought I'd see Harry's godchild love a Malfoy." Draco turned back to George, but instead of the sneer he was expecting, George had an easy grin on his face, though his eyes held a heaviness that made Draco fidget a bit.

"Well, he is family…" Taking a deep breath, Draco decided that if he wanted George's help, he might as well be brutally honest, the way Gryffindors seemed to be every day,

"And honestly, how can I not love him? Teddy became the centre of my life as soon as I met him." The hazel eyes bored into him, but after a while the red-head seemed satisfied that he was telling the truth and nodded, his eyes gentling.

"Well, if you ever need any assistance…"

"Actually, I have something I would ask of you, if you don't mind. I need to meet Hermione regarding a Potions order she placed with me a few months ago. I might have found the ingredients she was searching for, so if you could let her know, I'd be much obliged."

George nodded, his eyes narrowing for a shrewd moment, before he smiled and turned, helping another customer seeking his assistance. Draco exhaled in relief.

That went well, better than the note that might have been lost or found that he had been planning on. Turning, he made his way to where Amelle and Ron were still squabbling, a bit more heatedly. He saw Teddy trying to gain Amelle's attention and Draco immediately knew this wasn't going to turn out well. Amelle was already irritated and was ready to lash out at anything.

Sure enough, just as he arrived, she snapped around to Teddy, her voice like a whiplash.

"For Merlin's sake Teddy, behave yourself! I didn't raise you to be a vulgar commoner who tugs on my robes like a beggar pleading for food! Wait until I'm finished with my conversation."

Teddy's eyes were wide, his face paling as his hair bleached to grey and his eyes to his usual amber. Those orbs glinted with tears that he held back and Amelle seemed to realise the mistake she made. However, before she could correct it and try to comfort Teddy, the boy turned and dashed away.

Luckily, Draco managed to snag him around the waist and after a brief struggle, the young metamorphmagus seemed to realise it was Draco who held him and he wrapped all his limbs around him tightly.

Clinging like a monkey to Draco, he sobbed silently. Amelle seemed horrified at her unthinking actions, her hands fluttering in an attempt to reach for Teddy, before they clenched and fell back to her side. She nodded to Weasley, before turning and marching out of the shop.

Draco handed the Pygmy Puff to the gobsmacked Weasel, along with the galleons he owed for the Powder and Gloves, before following her, his cousin sobbing silently. The anger he felt boiling up in him was ruthlessly suppressed, as he knew his own anger would just frighten the limpet on his side further.

Well, at least he had accomplished his objective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooooo, what do you think? I admit, this chapter is one of my favourites, though not my ultimate favourite. I hope it answers some answers about what happened to Harry, though how it happened is still a mystery. I admit, when I reread it, as this fic is self-beta'd, I was like whaaat? I forgot I wrote this! I have no idea if Pygmy Puffs make any noise, but I decided it would be cute if it made snuffling noises, so I worked that in. Also, I'm sure everyone knows the general style of a chibi character, very cute and anime-like, more than cartoon-like. I'm looking forward to feedback on this chapter, since I'm quite anxious about how it turned out Next chapter up Tuesday!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, here we are again, and this chapter explains a bit more about what Draco is planning. Thank you soooo much to everyone who gave kudos to Draco Malfoy and my utmost gratitude to everyone who commented: Playgroup, DiverTazSC and I_kill_Zombies. You guys made my day!!

Draco was aware of Granger's stare boring into the back of his head. He had immediately noticed her as she entered his potions shop near closing time, but as he was busy with a customer, he had ignored her. He could feel her impatience like a living thing, but he didn't allow it to influence his handlings with the customer.

Finally, after an age, or more correctly, ten minutes, the wizard purchased some bat-spleens and Veridant roots and left his shop. Scanning the room, he saw that there were no other customers and so he walked to the door, flipping the sign to 'Closed' and pulling the blinds down. He tried to limit magic in his Apothecary, knowing some ingredients didn't deal well when mixed with magic. Only then, did he finally turn to Granger.

Her arms were folded and her foot was tapping the floor impatiently. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she was wearing a black skirt and a white blouse. He could see her deep green robes slung over her arms and reasoned that she had come from her work directly to his shop.

"Well Malfoy? What did you want to talk about that you sent that cryptic message to me through George? I assume it is something important, since I never ordered any Potions ingredients and you could just have come to my office instead of doing this otherwise."

Malfoy nodded, and gestured for Granger to follow him as he led the way into his office at the back. Closing the door firmly behind Granger, he cast a locking spell at the door. As soon as he sat down on his office chair, the myriad of spells on the office activated, including a silencing charm from the outside, meaning no one could hear what went on within the office, but he could hear what went on outside it. Granger looked around, impressed, obviously recognising the charm work that went into this.

"Granger. A few months ago you came to me with theories about the suspicion behind Potter's apparent 'abandonment' of his wife and godson. I must admit, at the time I didn't believe what you said to be of consequence and believed you to be deluded." Granger narrowed her eyes as she replied, having caught the past tense in his words.

"And what changed since then?" Draco regarded her silently, before he answered.

"Before I answer, I would like your word that you will listen to me before you choose to do anything. That means you have to listen to everything I tell you, and not storm off mid-speech. Otherwise I will Obliviate you and do this without you."

Granger's lips thinned and she looked unhappy at the threat, but nodded her acquiesce. Taking a deep breath, the blond prepared himself for the imminent outburst he knew Granger would experience and started talking; deciding that to be blunt will fit his purpose better.

"I found Potter. And I need your discrete help to free him." Granger seemed to be in shock, her mouth dropping open and her eyes widening, so Draco decided it would be better to talk quickly, before she could regain her voice.

"A few days ago, I accidently found a photo Teddy took. It was of him and Potter, but Teddy was six in the photo. That led me to remember…"

As Draco talked, he could see Hermione recovering from her spluttering fit, her face becoming more animated by the second. The woman was practically vibrating from her relief, excitement and anger all at once and Draco was glad he was nearing the end of his explanation. He could see Granger wouldn't be able to stay quiet for long. Sure enough, as soon as he finished, she jumped up, pacing as she talked enthusiastically.

"I knew there was something wrong with the story of Harry running away! Harry wouldn't abandon Teddy, I told them all and they looked at me with pity! But look! I was RIGHT! Oh Harry, how do you always end up in these situations? We need to rescue him! Ron can gather the aurors, he has contacts there as he's a junior auror himself. I'll contact our friends and we can storm Potter Manor and take down Amelle. Oh, I need to go! We cannot waste another second!" Hermione turned as if to run to the door, but Draco's voice lashing out stopped her.

"Sit DOWN Granger! No one is going anywhere or telling the aurors anything." Hermione's chocolate eyes were filled with irritation and steely determination as she rounded on Draco.

"Listen Malfoy, I'm grateful that you found out about Harry and told me, but we'll take it over from here. You may not care about Harry that much, but I will not allow him to spend another moment imprisoned by that psychotic witch!"

Malfoy stood as she turned again, his wand pointed directly at her back.

"Granger, so help me, if you take one more step, I will Obliviate you before you can say 'rescue'. You agreed to listen till the end, Potter will be fine for now. Now sit down and listen to what I'm telling you." Granger turned slowly, her eyes flashing dangerously as she stared at Draco, but finally she moved to sit down, tension lining her back.

Sitting back himself, he sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Look, what do you think is going to happen if you go tell the aurors, and subsequently the whole world, that Potter is imprisoned by Amelle, driven insane. I'll tell you what will happen. Firstly, Amelle will hear of it, because being as politically powerful as she is, she cannot not have spies in the Ministry. In the event that she finds out, she has the chance to either dispose of Potter before he can be rescued, or to disappear with Teddy and I doubt it would be easy to find them.

"Second, let's say she didn't find out about you knowing, as soon as you start to attack, you are leaving Teddy vulnerable to her wrath, as well as Potter. Don't think you will make it to her before she makes it to Potter. Thirdly, imagine your attack is successful, or I managed to take her out of action and free Potter.

Given the sway she holds in the Ministry, she can just tell them some sob story about Potter being driven insane by the damage Voldemort's horcrux did to his mind after being forcefully removed after living inside him for sixteen, nearing seventeen years. She can say he became violent and dangerous and, afraid for Teddy's mental and physical well-being of having a godfather who was insane, she locked him away, afraid of the shame she and Teddy will face if it became public knowledge. She could play on the fact that Teddy was extremely young and she didn't want him to have to deal with questions from the press and so forth.

"The Wizarding World will side with Amelle Potter, who they have admired since Potter's disappearance, not with their Saviour who became reclusive after he married Amelle. Even if the Wizarding World doesn't fully side with her, she has enough allies, power and money to make sure the trial is in her favour, especially as there is only circumstantial evidence against her and no way to prove how Potter was driven insane. That is, of course, if Potter isn't there to tell them what truly happened.

"Now, let's say I find the cure to Potter's madness. If I can cure him before helping him escape, then he can stand up to Amelle on his own. He will be able to turn society back to him better than an ex-death eater and lowly ministry employee could. The plus side is also that Teddy would be in less danger and hopefully we can take Amelle out cleanly."

He could see Granger was unhappy, but she was listening, which gave him hope. Finally she sighed, and responded.

"If you already decided what you're going to do, then why did you tell me? Your plan sounds as if it would work fine without anyone else knowing." Draco grimaced, hating to let his shortcoming be known, but having no choice if he wanted to give his cousin back his godfather.

"Because I can't figure out what potion she used to turn Potter insane. I have a list of characteristics Potter exhibits, but so far I haven't found a spell or potion that reduces the victim to what Potter is. I also wanted to ask if you noticed anything about Potter's behaviour before he disappeared, anything that could be a hint about the type of potion used." The bushy-haired woman read through his list, chewing her bottom lip as she thought back to the months before Potter's disappearance.

"Well… it was rather sudden, that he decided to marry Amelle. There was suspicion about a love potion being used, but we could never test for one, as Harry was too powerful to be held down and too stubborn to submit to the test peacefully. I can't really remember anything else of cons- Wait. About a month before he disappeared, he was having trouble with his magic. Nothing serious, just charms going wrong, like summoning charm being too strong or a household charm not working.

"He laughingly played it off as his magic being a bit wilful because he wasn't flinging defensive magic around every day. About a week before he disappeared, he was absent-minded a lot. Initially, I thought that had been a hint about his imminent ideas to run away, though later I forgot about it as I became convinced he didn't run away. But now that I think back…

"It was more like he couldn't order his thoughts; he stumbled over his words a lot and sometimes would suddenly stop in the middle of a sentence, seemingly struggling to find the way to express himself. At the time, I thought nothing of it."

"So his magic went first, followed by his ability to speak and then his memories. I assume his body's deterioration came after his memories became jumbled, as a direct result from the chaos in his mind." Draco rubbed his chin as Hermione added to the list, trying to run through possible potions, but coming up blank.

"I'll go search through Hogwarts' Restricted Section, as well as the Ministry Archives. If I find anything, I'll let you know." Draco nodded and after another moment of talking over Potter's condition, he bid Hermione farewell.

Now he had another mind to help with the research.

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Draco chuckled at Amelle's remark, regarding a particularly foolish Ministry employee, as he delicately speared his fillet mignon, along with a sweet carrot. Teddy was quiet across from him as Amelle and Draco chatted quietly and after cleaning his plate, requested to be excused. Amelle looked at him disapprovingly, but after a moment, his puppy-dog eyes melted her heart and she nodded. The small boy perked up, hopping off his chair and running out the dining room with his phoenix flying after him.

"He seems better these days. Have you managed to talk to him?" Amelle nodded, still watching the doorway through which the boy left, before turning back to her dining companion.

"Yes and I've apologised for snapping at him at that ghastly shop. At first he seemed reluctant, but he's been talking to me more recently." The blond was puzzled at the sincere joy he saw in Amelle's eyes and decided to take a chance.

"Amelle, I've been wondering for a while. Why do you care for Teddy so much? I mean, I understand that my cousin is adorable and you have practically raised him, but even though your relationship is frequently at odds, you still love him desperately. Most people wouldn't put so much effort into a child that isn't of their blood or their husband's blood, especially if they didn't specifically asked for a child. I apologise if I seem nosey, you aren't required to answer."

The green-eyed woman was silent for a moment, seemingly far away, before she snapped back to the present, studying Draco closely. Draco was beginning to think she would stay quiet and contemplating if he should apologize, though it wasn't really something he enjoyed doing, when Amelle started speaking.

"Harry wasn't my first serious relationship. The truth is, when I was sixteen, I had a boyfriend whom I loved dearly. We were planning to get married when I came of age, so of course, when I fell pregnant, we were overjoyed. My parents thought that we were too young, that I was too young, but since I was a few months away from turning seventeen, I ignored their concerns. However, two and a half months into my pregnancy, my fiancé, Jean-Paul left me.

"Apparently, he had met someone else, a more experienced woman and one without a child. Never mind that the baby was his, he abandoned me!" Amelle was breathing heavily and for a second, her image was superimposed by the image of a feral Potter. The similarities were frightening. However, she quickly regained her composure and continued with her story.

"The months following I was bombarded with insults from my peers, pity from my friends and disapproval from my family. I had decided to keep my baby despite their protests and displeasure and after finding out it was going to be a boy, I named him Ancil, for his noble blood he shared with me. It was hard and there were times I thought I should just give up, but finally, the day came that I went into labour and my son was born. However…

"There were difficulties with his birth and my baby boy died before I could even hold him in my arms." Amelle had silent tear tracks sliding down her cheeks, her shoulders quivering slightly and Draco couldn't help but feel a flash of sympathy for the woman, despite her misdeeds.

"That night, I sneaked out of my room to go see my baby, whom they had taken away without allowing me to even see him. He was so perfect. He had his father's strong chin, with my cheekbones and button nose. Beautiful blond hair laid thickly on his head and there was nothing wrong with him, yet he was cold and unmoving in my arms. I was heartbroken… When I met Teddy… and Harry of course, I thought fate had given me another chance.

"Teddy was the same age as my Ancil and he had lost his mother as I had lost my son. I resolved to raise him as if he were my own. Of course, then Harry abandoned us and it only strengthened my resolve to love Teddy and raise him, since I couldn't rely on any man to stand by his child." Draco walked over and rubbed Amelle's back as she looked into the distance, her eyes red and swollen from the tears. Despite his dislike for the woman who caused Teddy such sorrow, he had compassion for the horrible thing she had experienced.

"Thank you for telling me, it must have been hard. Come Amelle, go to bed and sleep away your tears, I'll give you some Dreamless Sleep to insure you have a peaceful night, free of memories." Amelle didn't put up much of a fight and as he gave her the potion, he guided her to her bed and pulled the covers over her. He watched as she slowly dropped off to sleep, only leaving when he was certain she was no longer awake. Standing, he made his way to Teddy's room.

Sure, he felt sorry for the woman, having been abandoned and losing her child, but that didn't mean he was going to let her get away with making another child's life miserable, even if that wasn't her intention. The Dreamless Sleep would insure she wouldn't wake up later and he wanted to go visit Potter while he was here.

Entering Teddy's room, he was surprised to find his cousin asleep on his bed, curled above the covers as he clutched his phoenix toy close. Casting a tempus charm, he saw that it was after ten in the night. Obviously his talk with Amelle had taken longer than he thought and dinner had already been later than normal, due to Amelle having had business to take care of. He now suspected it was something to do with Potter and was anxious to go check up on him.

If something had happened to further damage Potter's precarious health, Teddy would be devastated. Gently easing the phoenix from Teddy's hands, he tucked the boy in and, making sure he had not woken up, he left the room. He hurried to the staircase, taking the steps two at a time and heading straight for the tapestry. Stretching out a hand, he confirmed that the phoenix worked for him as well and entered.

Immediately his eyes widened upon seeing the room. The couch was overturned and feathers from one of the pillows covered the ground. The bedcovers were ripped and strewn over the floor, with the fire reduced to mere embers and books and torn pages scattered everywhere. In sort, it looked like a warzone.

Before he could further look around, a loud yowl interrupted him and his breath was knocked away as a body tackled him to the ground. He could feel heavy magical binds settle on his arms and chest, keeping him pinned to the floor even as another body sat forcefully on his stomach.

Enraged Avada-Kedavra eyes met his as a furious Potter pushed his face right into Draco's, snarling continuously. Spittle was flying everywhere and Draco became aware that one of Potter's hands was curled around his throat as the other held his hair in punishing grip to prevent his head from moving. Draco's entire body froze in terror, never mind that he couldn't move anyway.

He felt like a mouse staring into the eyes of a snake… And wasn't that ironic, him being the Slytherin in the room. Although, since Harry had hosted a shard of the Dark Lord's soul in his soul, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Suddenly the other reason for comparing Potter to a snake became apparent. Barely discernible under the heavy sound of Harry's snarling, Draco could hear what vaguely sounded like hisses. He had heard that after Voldemort died, Potter had lost the ability to speak Parseltongue, but obviously his sources was either wrong or Harry had regained it somehow.

Regardless, he now knew that Potter could speak slightly, even if it was only in parseltongue, which made sense since it was basically the language of an animal, which corresponded with his frame of mind. A tightening of the hand on his throat jolted him back to the situation at hand and he knew he had to calm Potter.

"Potter! Potter! HARRY! It's me, Draco! Remember, Teddy brought me here a few days ago? I'm here to help you get better! Calm down!" The ebony-haired man paused at his voice, and the blond watched as reason, animal-like it was, returned to Potter's eyes, the fury seeping from his face and body. The man on top of him seemed to inspect him, before suddenly rolling off him. At the same time, the magical binds pressing down on him left and Draco pushed himself upright.

The man was crawling away from the blond rapidly, before he returned with something in his hands. It was the torn remains of the cartoon book he used to document his remains. Reaching out with his senses, he sensed Amelle's magic on the book and deduced that she had gone into a fit of rage upon finding the book, destroying it. It explained the state of the room and the madman's reaction to him. The leafy-eyed man held the book out towards him, his face blank but Draco could feel the air of sorrow hung around him. Taking the torn pieces of paper, Draco saw Potter's attempts at mending it, pages fused together, but with the pictures not lined up.

"Potter, to fix this, I need to take apart the pages that was fixed incorrectly. I need you to not attack me or interrupt me in any way ok. Do you understand me?" Potter stared at him dully and Draco took a deep breath. Well, here goes nothing.

He untied the twine, laying all the pieces of the papers out on the ground, spreading them around him. Potter had twitched at his dismantling of the book, but made no effort to interrupt him. Glancing at the man staring avidly at him, he pulled out his wand and took a deep fortifying breath, before casting a precise cutting curse at one of the pages fixed incorrectly, separating the two contrasting scenes.

Immediately Potter roared, jumping forwards with his hands clawed in rage. Before Potter could reach him, Draco quickly grabbed the other half of the picture and fused them with a hastily cast spell. He could feel Potter stuttering to a halt, his breath washing over Draco's face so close was he. The man was watching him curiously and Draco handed the mended page to the Saviour.

Turning it over and tracing the cartoon with his fingers, Potter grunted and settled back, allowing Draco to continue fixing the book, not even twitching as he cut the rest of the messily fixed pages. After about ten minutes, he tied the twine through the holes in the pages. As he had arranged the pages, he had placed the pictures that Potter had randomly drawn in the order that they happened, well, at least those that he recognised.

Potter looked at him inquiringly and he diligently explained what he was doing. Though he wasn't sure the man understood him, he had made no move to stop Draco from rearranging the pages and finally Draco had finished the book, giving it back to Potter. Immediately, the man paged to a blank page, trailing his fingers over the parchment. As Draco saw once before, a scene materialized.

It took a moment to recognize, but finally the scene clicked in his mind. It was him and Potter, the day the Golden Trio were caught and brought to the manor, grappling. Potter had wrestled the wand Draco held out of his hands, before sprinting to his friends as Bellatrix hurled spells after them.

As he looked up, he saw Potter watching his wand, while trailing his fingers over the next page and the next. Scenes of his defeat of Voldemort with his wand and the day he handed Draco's wand back to him appeared. The blond was actually impressed with how Potter made connections to what he saw.

After a moment, the man seemed to lose interest in his wand, instead watching Draco. The next scene to appear was one that caused Draco's throat to clog up. It was set in a bathroom which was steadily being flooded and a pale-haired figure was lying on the ground, his chest turning red. A cartoon Potter was crouched over him, his face upset and horrified. A tall man clothed in black raced in, falling on his knees next to the boy on the ground.

It was the day Potter cursed him with the Sectumsempra curse in his sixth year. Sad eyes met his, filled with remorse. Blinking, he saw the eyes return to their dull gaze and Potter turned away.

Watching the man shuffling away, basically cuddling the book to himself, Draco felt pity for Potter surface. He might have been a git, but he didn't deserve this. Conjuring a small chest, just big enough to hold the book and maybe another small object, he sat down on the couch and starting casting various charms on it. After half an hour in which Potter ignored him, he finally stood up, approaching the man sitting in his nest and hissing to himself. Crouching in front of the dark-haired man, he held out his hand. Potter watched him suspiciously and held the book tighter to his chest.

"Your hand, Potter." Still there was no reaction and, sighing exasperatedly, he reached out and dragged the reluctant limb nearer. Potter was tensed and growling faintly, but made no move to stop him. Glancing up at the suspicious man, Draco quickly pricked Potter's finger, ignoring the yowl and splashing the drop of blood on the chest. He held up a hand, a bit surprised that Potter wasn't attacking him yet. Looking up, he saw that the green eyes were fixed on the chest, finger already forgotten.

He held out the chest to the man, watching as Potter turned it over and over. Finally, he seemed to realise that he should open it and, flicking the lock open, he flipped the lid up. Looking at the soft velvet lining, he matched the shape of the box to the shape of his book. The blond watched as the Gryffindor dropped the book in the chest, before closing the lid.

"Potter, that chest can only be opened by you, as it's keyed to your blood now. That means, should Amelle come back, so long as the book is in the chest, she won't be able to reach it, as the chest is indestructible." Potter just stared at him, so Draco sighed, thinking by himself that he must have a death wish.

Grabbing the box out of Potter's hands he jumped back just as Potter surged forwards, his face distorted in anger. Throwing the box in the air, Draco cried out 'Incendio' and watched as the flames engulfed the delicate chest. The next moment, he felt a second of déjà vu as Potter knocked him to the ground, both hands around his neck.

The thump of the box landing stopped Potter in his tracks however and he turned to regard the unharmed chest. Reaching out hesitantly, Draco picked up the box and sat back as his rival climbed off him. Over exaggerating his movements, he tried to open the box and in the process demonstrated how it would not open. Handing it back to its recipient, he saw Potter open the chest, as if checking he could still get to the book inside. Seeming satisfied, the man placed the box in his pile of blankets, muttering to himself in Parseltongue. Hmmmm, maybe he should…

Nodding his head, Draco knew what he was going to look for next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, I hope that cleared up a few things I had people asking why he didn't just stun Amelle and rescue Harry like that, so I hoped this chapter sufficiently explained why. Please leave a comment, I thrive on them! See you next Tuesday!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7 is here! This chapter is more to further the story than any "aaaaaw"- moments between Harry and Draco, but never fear, it's coming in the next chapter! However, I would love to hear your ideas and opinions regarding this chapter, as I was unsure if I made it a bit… easy.
> 
> Anyways, thank you so much to everyone who gave kudos to Draco Malfoy and CYBER COOKIES to skyglazingMaro and DiverTazSC, for the great comments!:)

"Malfoy! Malfoy! I found it! I _finally_  found it!" The blond's head shot up from where he was going over his ledgers, to see Granger running into his shop clutching a bit of parchment in her hands.

"Found what Granger? Do talk a bit louder, I think the people across the street couldn't hear you." A blush stained the woman's cheeks, but she continued forward, grabbing Draco's arm and unceremoniously dragging him into his office, slamming the door behind her. She should be glad it was a dead hour and there were no customers, otherwise Draco would complain more than he already was.

"Really Granger, there is no need to manhandle me like an uncouth plebeian. I feel I must tell you that I am not interested in you in that way, though I understand why you wo-"

"Oh, shut up Malfoy, I don't have time for your nonsense. I found the potion Amelle used on Harry, I'm certain of it!" Immediately Draco's expression turned serious and he grabbed the parchment, scanning over what was written there.

**The Sedatio Magia Potion**

**This potion is commonly used to calm, or, as the name suggests, sedate a person's magic when his or her magic is going out of control.**

**Due to its key ingredient of Angel Trumpet Root, the brewing of this potion is highly regulated, restricted to certified Potion's Masters contracted with a hospital, as it can be highly poisonous if brewed incorrectly. The administering of this potion is limited to Master Level Healers, due to its harmful nature if taken in the incorrect dose.**

**If taken for more than three days consecutively, symptoms include the loss of magic, followed by the loss of speech. It has been noted that this loss of speech is due to mental imbalance caused by the person's lack of magic and can cause amnesia, loss of bodily control or even insanity.**

Draco looked up, his heart thudding heavily. However, he had to be sure before he got his hopes up. "This mentions that a person who takes it loses their magic. Potter didn't lose his, only had it weakened with minimal control over it."

Hermione's eyes glittered with academic excitement and she pulled another folded parchment from her pocket, this one rumpled.

"See, that's what I thought as well, so I dug a bit deeper and finally stumbled across a legend of the potion. I wasn't sure whether to believe it, since there is no evidence proving it, but it matched Harry's situation, so I brought it along." Folding the other parchment open, Draco's eyes scanned it.

…  **Furthermore, it is believed that after the death of Morgana, Merlin was so distraught that his magic raged out of control, harming all who got too close. Finally, Arthur, helped by a Potions master, managed to administer the Sedatio Magia Potion to Merlin, hoping to supress his magic. It seemed to work and, ignorant of the danger, Arthur continued to administer the potion to Merlin.**

**After the third day, Merlin began to experience strange symptoms and worried, Arthur called the Potions Master, Sagramour Prince, to come check on the Wizard.**

**Upon his arrival, the Potions Master was horrified to hear of what Arthur had done and rushed to Merlin's quarters, expecting the wizard to be robbed of his magic. Instead he found Merlin's magic to be diluted and though the wizened wizard had some control over his magic, it was minimal, as the deterioration of his magic caused his mind to deteriorate with it.**

**It resulted in what could be called fits of insanity. Hopeful of his patient's recovery after observing his diluted magic, he set to work creating an antidote.**

**It has never been said how, but legend continues to say that Merlin made a full recovery, with a penchant for remembering previously vague childhood memories.**

"The only part I'm confused about that last line, since I don't know why it's relevant, but the rest sounded like what Harry is experiencing." Draco thought to how Harry used his magic, sometimes seeming to wield it effortlessly, like his creation of the spell on the toy phoenix and other times seeming to fail in the most basic of charms, like the repairing charm. Also, something about that last line niggled at his mind and after chasing the thought, he realized what it was. Murmuring to himself, he didn't realise that Hermione overheard him.

"What?! Harry is speaking Parseltongue? Are you sure?! He lost the ability to do that after the war. I remember him thinking it was because he was no longer a horcrux."

Draco looked up, relieved that his sources was correct, before wondering why Potter could speak a language he could previously no speak anymore.

"Hmmmm, wait. You said he acts like an animal right? Merlin supposedly remembered memories that were vague or lost to him before. It might have something to do with their mind working differently due to the madness. Perhaps Harry always had the ability to speak it, since he had known it for years before and he had just lost the enhancement the horcrux gave him."

Draco shrugged, not that interested in Potter's returned ability, or rather, the theory behind it, but Hermione's eyes were glinting in interest.

"Granger, concentrate on what's important. Do you know about an anti-dote to the Potion?"

Just by looking at her desolate eyes, he saw that she had not found anything. Gritting his teeth, he growled lowly, before shaking off his irritation.

"All right, keep looking, I'll also search for an antidote. It makes it better to know what I'm up against." Looking at the parchment, he resolved to find the antidote. For Teddy.

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"Potter, I got you something. It's a pet to keep you company, though you shouldn't let Amelle see it." It was once again night and after casting a subtle sleeping charm on Amelle, he had made his way to the secret room Potter resided in. Potter looked in his direction and seemed too squint at what the blond held.

The hiss emerging from his hands caused the man to jump, before he edged closer, cocking his head. A serpentine head poked from between his fingers, its tongue flicking out as it tasted the air around it. Potter hissed at it and its head immediately swung towards the man, before it hissed in return.

Handing the small body to Potter, he watched the exchange that was taking place, wishing he could understand what they were saying. Potter abruptly nodded, twining the snake around his arm as he retrieved his chest.

Draco watched curiously as the man pointed a finger at the chest, before pressing it forwards, as if poking the chest. Instead of the wood stopping his fingers, it gave way like a knife to cheese. The result was a small hole, just big enough for the snake to slither in and hide inside.

Impressed at the genius hiding place, Draco was glad he thought of getting Potter a snake. Though it was a common Ring-neck Snake, it was small enough to not really pose a threat if it bit Potter. The dark back of the snake curled snugly around Potter and Draco could see a faint hint of the bright belly the snake had. It started out as a bright yellow near the head, while steadily darkening to a fiery orange and finally a bloody red at the tail. Black oval spots decorated his belly, giving the small snake an exotic look.

"Potter, I also wanted you to know that I found out which Potion caused your condition and I'm working on finding the antidote. So far, I haven't been able to figure it out, since I don't have the recipe for the original potion, but since my work is centred on potions, I'm sure I'll find it soon."

Draco by now ignored Potter's blank look, knowing that Potter rarely showed any other emotion. He continued to reason out loud about possible ingredients the antidote could contain, even as Potter crawled over to him and opened his chest.

Sitting on the floor with his back against the couch, he trailed his fingers lightly over the blank parchment.

The blossoming scene contained a classroom of children, with an imposing man with lanky black hair sneering at them from in front. The next page was of a small green-eyed boy biting his lip as he threw ingredients into a bubbling cauldron, the man with the hook nose peering over his shoulder menacingly.

The blond smiled at the thought of Snape.

That man may have been a sadistic bastard, but a more loyal man one could not find. Everything he knew about potions came from his Head of House, since his father was never really interested and getting tutelage from Snape during the war caused his respect for the man to grow drastically. He was sure Professor Snape would figure out the antidote in no ti-

Draco shot upright, his eyes blank as a memory played behind them. It wasn't a terribly important memory, but one that could be useful to him. It was at the reading of his professor's will and one line in particular stood out now.

… _And to Draco Malfoy, I leave my house in Spinner's End, with the hope that the potions knowledge contained within could lead you further in your talent…_

Standing abruptly, he strode towards the tapestry, calling out an apology to an oblivious or uncaring Potter and made his way out of Potter Manor. He strode briskly through the cold night, ignoring the snowflakes falling lightly on his hair as he swung his cloak around his shoulders. As soon as he made it beyond the wards, he apparated to the front garden of Snape's small house.

The outer walls were dirty and overgrown with vines. The plants raged out of control, but Draco took no notice of this as he felt the still strong wards around the house accept him. Obviously Snape had changed them before his death to accept his student and godson, probably around the time he made his will.

Opening the door, he ignored the ominous creak, glancing around the cobwebbed entrance hall, before cautiously making his way inside.

Walking through the gloomy interior of Spinner's End, Draco resisted the urge to sneeze as the dust tickled his nose. It was very obvious that no one had been here for years, since he always avoided the place to forget the painful memories that came along with it.

He navigated his way to Snape's study, sure that most of his books would be there, since he didn't have a library. Finally finding the dimly-lighted study, he made a bee line for the bookcase, his lighted wand guiding him through the darkness. He started at the top, scanning titles as his wand passed over them. When he arrived at the bottom and no particular title had jumped out at him, he grabbed the topmost potions book on the left and settled himself down for a long read.

A few hours and several skimmed books later, Draco was no closer to finding any mention of the potion he sought and his frustration levels were beginning to rise alongside his exhaustion. It was nearing morning and he was beginning to think even Snape didn't have this potion.

He finally picked up the last potions book he could find and paged through it, hoping he would find what he seeks in this one. Nearing the middle, his eye caught mention of Angel's Trumpet and suddenly alert, he peered closer. However, it was only a description of the Sedatio Magia Potion and the Slytherin let out a strangled yell, suppressing the urge to chuck the book at a wall.

A small scribble stopped him from following through with his urge and he brought his lighted wand tip closer to the page, almost touching it. There, scrawled strangely gracefully yet barely legible, was a small note. He recognised Snape's handwriting and saw that it spelled 'Merlin'. His breath quickening, he scanned the titles once more, this time looking for something quite different.

Finally, his eyes stopped on one particular book.

**Obscure Lore of Merlin and Morgana**

Excitedly pulling the book out, he flipped through it till he came upon the page that spoke about what Merlin experienced when Morgana died and found another note there. It was simply a page number and quickly turning to the page, he found a blank page in the back of the book filled with Snape's scribbles.

The ingredients and brewing methods for the Sedatio Magia Potion was jotted down and upon looking closer, he saw various notes about ingredients that could be exchanged with other ones to make the antidote. It didn't mention the dosage one should take or even for how long, but Draco wasn't a potions genius for nothing and he was sure he would be able to figure it out.

Laughing out loud, he couldn't believe he finally found it! It was amazing and he knew he was that much closer to giving Teddy the best gift he would ever receive.

Placing the book in his pocket, he immediately made his way to Malfoy Manor, to get some sleep so that he was as alert as he could be when he had to brew the potion.

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Carefully stirring clockwise three times, Draco added the crushed bezoar slowly, immediately stirring in a figure of eight five times after that. He let it bubble for five minutes as he sliced the augury feathers into segments, before dropping them lightly onto the surface, stirring once anti-clockwise slowly, till the potion turned a clear sky-blue. Putting the heat on low, he left it simmer for forty minutes, before the potion would be done.

It was the day after he had found the antidote in Snape's home and he had finally gathered all the ingredients from his shop and had felt alert enough to attempt it. This was the second time he had attempted to brew the antidote, due to him misunderstanding Snape's notes the first batch.

He had owled Granger about the news right before he began brewing and had sensed her peeking into his potions room, which was next to his office in his shop, before she left him to his brewing. With luck, he would be able to administer the first dosage tonight to Potter.

He had deduced, from looking at the various ingredients, that this Potion was to be taken every second day for two weeks and at the end, Potter should be fully healed. He had at first thought it would take more than that, but the slow rate at which Potter apparently deteriorated and the level of mental capability he possessed told Draco that Amelle had probably either diluted the Sedatio Magia potion when she administered it to Potter, or she had not given it to him in consecutive days.

Of course, this worked perfectly for Draco, since it meant that he would get Potter better soon. The only problem would be if Amelle was still giving Potter the Sedatio Magia Potion. If she was, he would have to find a way to stop her without giving the game away, as the two potions would cancel each other out and Potter wouldn't get better on his own.

Striding over to his fireplace, he threw some floo powder into it and stuck his head into the green flames.

"Potter Manor!"

After the disorientating spin, the living room of Potter manor came into focus and he saw Amelle sitting on the couch, reading a novel. Teddy was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't matter at the moment. He saw that the brunette had looked up and smiled as charmingly as he could when his face was made of ash and embers.

"Amelle! Good Morning, how are you feeling? Did you finally get over that cold from the day before yesterday?" The regal woman stood, her cream dress rippling as she moved closer to the fireplace.

"Draco! Good morning to you as well. Sadly, I am still feeling a bit below the weather and I can feel a headache starting up, but otherwise I am fine thank you. To what do I owe this call?" Draco pasted a look of concern on his face as he replied to her question.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that. Would you like me to give you a headache-reliever and a mild sleeping Potion? I could also get you a pepper-up Potion, but if taken when you are tired, it will only cause you to become more exhausted when it wears off and that would only worsen your cold. I could take Teddy for the day, to look after him. That was actually the reason I called in fact. I had planned to visit my aunt today and thought it would be nice to take Teddy with me."

He could see Amelle was still indecisive, so he wheedled a bit more.

"You wouldn't have to worry about Teddy, I'll make sure no harm befalls him while he's in my care. So he could see his grandmother and you could get the rest you need and deserve."

Finally Amelle's expression cleared and she smiled, nodding. "Of course Draco, I appreciate the offer. Let me quickly go find Teddy and I'll bring him over."

He watched her retreating back and pulled out of the fireplace, hastily gathering the three Potions he had offered Amelle, he then floo'd over to Potter Manor, not wanting Amelle to floo to his shop and maybe see the potion he had brewed. Not that he thought she would recognise it, as it wasn't recorded in any books, but he wanted to take no chances.

It wasn't long before Teddy bounded into the room and jumped into his arms, grinning excitedly up at his cousin. Draco laughed as he hugged the squirming body tightly, before putting Teddy down, looking up as Amelle followed him more sedately.

Smiling, he handed her the three potions, once again going over how she should drink it. Saying their farewells, he and Teddy floo'ed to Andromeda, with Draco holding the boy's shoulder to prevent him from ending up in the wrong grate.

Andromeda was surprised to see them, as Draco had made up his plans to visit her on the spot, but was delighted nevertheless. Offering them some tea and cookies, Draco and Andromeda sat on the couch, Draco listening as Teddy chattered on and on, telling his grandma everything that he had been up to, with the obvious exception of Harry.

It made the blond's heart warm to see Teddy so happy and full of energy, to hear his laughter as Andromeda tickled him or the way he smacked his lips when he took a bite of a chocolate chip cookie.

Not for the first time, Draco was, in the very deepest part of him where no one would ever find out about it, grateful that the werewolf and blood-traitor, as his Aunt Bellatrix had sneered, had procreated. His third-year Defence Professor was one of the best he had, with the obvious exception of Snape in his sixth year, though he wasn't capable of truly enjoying his classes that year.

"Right, Draco?" Startled, he looked up to see both Teddy and Andromeda staring at him inquiringly. Not sure what he missed, Draco cleared his throat.

"Sorry Teddy, I didn't hear that last bit?" Teddy sighed dramatically, as if thinking how stupid adults are, before he spoke again, a bit louder and slower. Draco couldn't help but feel amusement colouring his thoughts at the small boy's attitude.

"I said, that you took me on your grown up-broom and even let me steer for a while. Grandma won't believe me when I say you told me I'm a natural." Laughing, the grey-eyed man happily agreed with his younger family member, causing the boy to spin off in another tale, much to the entertainment of the adults.

It was nearing afternoon when Draco and Teddy finally bid farewell to Andromeda, promising to come visit more often and thanking her for the treats she fed them. Picking the tired boy up and encasing him in his arms, Draco turned on the spot, appearing at Malfoy Manor.

Teddy's eyes were falling shut slowly, before he jerked and looked around blearily as he tried to stay awake. Shielding the boy from the lightly drizzling snow, Draco quickly entered the manor and placed Teddy in front of the fire to warm him up, taking the opportunity to cuddle with the small body.

Asking a house elf to make them some hot chocolate, more to wake Teddy up than to warm him, he retrieved a snug blanket to place over Teddy's legs. When the elf popped in a minute later, with two mugs in hand, the Slytherin handed his cousin the smaller one, taking a delicious sip of his own.

"Teddy, I need to speak to you about something very important, so I need you to pay very close attention." Teddy glanced up at him, his amber eyes wide and curious. He continued to drink his cup of sugar rush and after a moment, Draco was sure the boy was alert enough to pay attention.

"Your Aunt Hermione and I found a potion that will help Uncle Harry get better. However, the potion needs to be given to him for more than two weeks and it would be a bit suspicious of me to come visit you every second day and to stay till after Amelle went to bed. So far, we have been very lucky Amelle didn't find us, but in such a critical stage, nothing can go wrong."

Teddy was staring wide-eyed and his voice piped up hesitatingly. "What can I do Draco? I don't think even I can sneak Uncle Harry out of the house."

Chuckling, the man shook his head, before continuing.

"Don't worry, I won't ask that of you. What I want you to do is ask Amelle a favour. Tomorrow, I want you to tell her that you want to get to know her better, but that you are shy to do it alone. Thus you want me to live there with you for a while, to make things easier for you two. Do you understand what I'm asking?"

Teddy nodded seriously, his amber eyes glowing in the firelight. "Don't worry Draco. I'll ask Aunt Amelle if you can stay with us for a while. I'll make sure she doesn't know." Draco smiled proudly, his voice filled with pride.

"I'm very proud of your bravery Teddy. Your Uncle Harry will be honoured at how much you care for him."

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The next day, Draco was in his office at home when Amelle floo called him.

"Draco! Draco! Oh, there you are. You'll never guess what Teddy said! He admitted that he wants to be closer to me, like a mother and son, but that he was too afraid to do it earlier. While furthering our relationship as it should be, he wants you to stay with us for a while, as a mediator of sorts. Oh please Draco, if I could ask one thing of you, it would be this! I know it's inconvenient to stay with us for a while, especially as you still have work, but this is my chance to become the true mother Teddy deserves!"

Draco stood up, an expression of surprised joy and mingled relief firmly placed on his face.

"Amelle, that's wonderful! It's exactly what you deserve and I know you care a lot for Teddy! Of course I'll stay over for a while, if that means you and Teddy gets to bond, then I have no complaints!"

"Thank you so much Draco, you have no idea what this means to me! Then I'll see you tonight?"

Draco gave his agreement, before making his way to his bedroom after Amelle shut down the floo. Looking at his already packed bag, he checked once again to insure the potions bottles were snug and secure, as he couldn't use magic to charm them unbreakable, for fear of interfering with the potion itself. He had enough to last him three weeks and had already decided to donate any potions left over to St. Mungo's. Sure that they were as safe as they could be, he sat down in a comfortable armchair by his fireplace, reading a novel and drinking a glass of firewhiskey to pass the time.

That night, after Amelle had worn herself out with her excitement over Teddy's announcement, Draco took the toy phoenix and headed towards Potter's room. He had to admit, he was impressed with his small cousin's acting. The boy had masterfully played his guardian, causing her to almost hyperventilate with joy. He had acted the insecure young boy, shy but actually wanting a mother, very well and the jade-eyed woman had eaten it up.

It did bring to mind a worry Draco had not felt to examine before. What if not all of Teddy's behaviour and words were acting? It could very well be that the boy really did want a mother, or perhaps he could have been thinking of Potter when he said those things. It only made Draco more determined to heal his cousin's godfather.

Walking through the tapestry, Draco immediately saw Potter curled up amidst his blankets, the man unmoving except for his slow breaths. Walking closer, he reached out and gently shook him, however, upon receiving no reaction, he jiggled his shoulder harder.

The man finally turned around, his movements lethargic and his eyes even duller if that was possible. Alarmed, Draco pulled him upright, looking for any injury as he babbled in panic.

"Potter, are you all right? What happened?! Are you hurt? Come on Potter, sit up, I can't see anything with these infernal blankets twisted about you as they are. Potter! Come one, give me some kind of response, you git! What got you in such a state?!"

Slowly, the man seemed to register what he wanted to know, even if he didn't understand the words, and he slowly handed Draco his cartoon book. Puzzled, Draco looked to see if it was damaged in any way, but it seemed fine.

A hand entered his vision as Potter opened the book just past the middle and Draco's attention was immediately caught by the scene playing out in front of him.

It was the life of Harry Potter, one he never imagined the Golden Boy to have lived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go, the antidote finally discovered! Next chapter is mainly Harry and Draco bonding a bit and then the last chapter. Reading through this again, I felt I had to address one thing, even though no one really asked about it.
> 
> I know it seems a bit as if Amelle is easily fooled, since Draco has been dosing her with sleeping potions or charm or whatever's necessary to visit Harry, but while I do actually consider Amelle as quite smart and perceptive, she's not on her guard at this moment. Draco became a friend, so she's not paranoid around him like she would be around others.
> 
> Anyway, please comment, even if it's only to ask a question, I'll respond as soon as I can!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAnd, I present to you, Chapter 8!!!! Ok, I'm super excited about this chapter, since most of the development happens here and I can't wait to hear your opinion! i hope that it doesn't disappoint some of you, since i know it moves quite fast. thank you to everyone who gave me kudos and for the amazing comments from DiverTazSc and EntWolf!! You guys made my day!

A small child, actually a baby, was crying in a cot as a dark haired man and a red-headed woman lay unmoving on the ground before him. A tall, thin man with carefully groomed ebony hair and malevolent crimson eyes stared at the baby, his wand pointing at the child's forehead. A green light shot out of the wand and hit the baby, before the scene started over.

Draco felt sick as he realised he was seeing the night Harry Potter became the Boy Who Lived.

People always thought of the miracle Potter experienced, the fame he got from that night, but rarely considered that it was also the night the boy lost his parents and godfather. Draco freely admitted that he was one of those people for a long time, knowing of course that Potter was an orphan, but never thinking what it would be like to grow up without parents. Sure, his own weren't the best of role models, but they loved him dearly and always tried to give him the best and usually succeeded.

Turning the page, he found a small boy crying in a very small room. In fact, he was sure it was the cupboard under the stairs he had seen in the first couple of pictures. Red was seeping through the child's shirt, bloody streaks decorating his back. The blond could see a couple of spiders in the top corner, a tatty blanket that could hardly offer any warmth and a few broken toy soldiers.

The next scene showed the horse-like woman hitting the miniscule green-eyed boy over the head with a frying pan, uncaring of the boy's obvious cry of pain, though Draco could only see his mouth moving and his face scrunching up in anguish, not hear the sound.

Another showed a boy desperately running from a malicious looking dog, climbing in a tree to nurse his bitten ankles as the dog barked at the base, encouraged by the boisterous laughing of an extremely obese woman. This was closely followed by one where the boy- rather, Harry- was running from a beached whale Draco recognised as his cousin and several other burly boys as they chased him with sticks and jeers.

Several pictures depicting an almost anorexic Harry rummaging for leftover food, or fighting a fever alone in his cupboard followed.

The last picture was the one that curdled Draco's blood the most, but also allowed him to understand Potter -Harry- in a way he had never before. It was a joyous Harry, talking to a flame-headed boy on a train. A snooty blond-haired boy came in, followed by two stocky gorilla-looking boys. It was obvious the blond, who Draco knew was himself, was speaking to Harry and for a brief moment, Draco saw his own image superimposed by that of Harry's cousin.

It was after that moment that Harry rejected his hand, but this time, Draco knew why and he couldn't blame Har- Potter as much as he wanted to anymore. Looking away from the parchment and the story they held, Draco saw that Potter had curled up in his blankets again and he felt the hints of remorse enter him. He would never in his wildest dreams have thought Potter was abused. He had always imagined a boy who was spoiled and loved by his family, who grew up knowing about his fame.

But apparently, everything he had ever thought about the man was wrong.

"Come one Potter, sit up. I've got a potion I want you to take. It will help you get better." After a lot of effort and gentle coaxing, he finally got Potter to sit upright and he thought it was actually a good thing the ebony-haired man was so lacklustre, since he didn't think Potter would normally allow him to cask magic on him or drink something he gave him.

Casting a quick diagnosing spell, he glanced through the results, luckily for him, the last time Potter had drank the Sedatio Magia Potion was over a year ago. Looks like Amelle hadn't thought it necessary to continue to give Potter the potion after he was sufficiently crazy, since he couldn't recover on his own.

Pushing the vial against Potter's lips, he coaxed the man to swallow, wiping away the few drops that dribbled down his chin. He couldn't see any immediate effect, but that was fine, as he knew it would take at least three more doses for the improvements to show outside his body.

Observing the man's lolling head, a bit of drool trickling out of his mouth, he decided to do something he would never normally do, since it was a huge invasion of one's privacy. But he wanted to make sure the damage to Potter's mind wasn't more extensive than he originally thought, so he had to check. Peering into Potter's eyes, he softly whispered his incantation.

"Legilimency!"

Immediately he was thrown into the chaos that was Potter's mind. Separate emotions raged everywhere, clashing in great battles and pulling memories apart. Animalistic instincts trampled over rational thought and a swirling vortex of thoughts sucked away all speech. Draped over everything, was a deep gnawing pain, bordering on hunger and anguish that tore the mind further apart.

Draco could feel that terror and agony permeating his body, trying to take over his mind. He felt his Self contorting in torture, his soul screaming out against the suffering that was Potter's mind. All around him, voices echoed hard and soft, all screaming out their torment and denial.

_PAIN! Pain painpainpainpainpainpainpain…! Magicbrokengonetakenpain painlossmisery! Just a freak, justafreakjustafreak who can't even hold onto his magic… Make it stop, makitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop!_

Gasping, Draco threw up his mental shields, dimming the overwhelming influx of emotions. Breathing deeply, he calmed his panicked mind. How Potter could still be alive with his mind basically torturing him, he didn't know.

Wading firmly though the maelstrom, he searched for any bit of rationality, for any hint of Potter being still present. It was actually a mistake that allowed him to find that tiny piece of hope.

An exceptionally strong wave of emotions crashed into his shield, causing him to falter for a second and bearing him down on his knees. Supporting himself with his arm, he looked at the ground as he regained his breath, only to realise that beneath him was a pane of clear glass, previously hid by the chaotic colours that swirled in Potter's mind. The glass was warped, but despite that, he could see a faint blur of a figure beneath it.

Studying the hideaway, the Legilimens found a weak spot and slowly allowed his body to become like mist, melting and drifting all at the same time through the glass. Opening his eyes, he saw a tiny boy with unruly midnight-black hair, rocking himself back and forth. Tear tracks had dried on his cheeks and his entire body was quivering through the over-sized clothes he wore.

"Potter?" The boy seemed to hunch in further at his voice, hiding his face and Draco remembered him always taunting his rival, calling him Potter in a sneering tone. Swallowing, he shuffled closer and tried again.

"Harry?" After a moment in which he thought he was going to be ignored, the small head lifted from his knees and bright emerald eyes peered at him, filled with the clear sheen of tears. His eyes were puffy and red and his rose-coloured lips were pulled down in a sad frown. Draco smiled gently like he would when Teddy was sad and made sure not to crowd the boy.

"Hello Harry, my name is Draco. I'm here to help you." The boy sniffled again and wiped his nose with one long sleeve.

"You can't help me. I'm stuck here. I deserve this for being such a freak." Draco shook his head, making sure not to show the anger he felt towards the muggles to this vulnerable representation of Harry's psych.

"You don't deserve this Harry. No one deserves this. I know it's scary out there, but I need you to be strong. I can't stay for long, but I promise to come back, to help you escape from this cage. In the meantime, I want you to see if you can sometimes go outside the glass. Very soon, the outside will calm down and you will have a chance to try and organise your mind. Do you understand what I'm saying Harry?"

The young boy nodded, snuffling quietly as he wiped at his tears. "Good boy. You're very strong and smart for hiding in here, aren't you?" Harry blinked slowly, his eyes filled with a cautious hope and awe. Yet he stayed quiet and Draco knew that he still didn't have the Gryffindor's entire trust. Not surprising, since he didn't have any memories beyond the age he was now.

That might actually be a good thing, since his memories of Draco isn't so complimentary anyway.

"I know you don't remember now, but we used to go to the same school. You learned magic there."

"Magic isn't real." Surprised at the small voice piping up, Draco turned his attention outwards, away from his memories of fights with Gryffindors, to find the young boy on his knees, peering at him curiously and a bit defensively.

Smiling, the Slytherin answered, "Yes, it is. I don't know why your aunt and uncle never told you, but there is an entire magical world. Once I get you out of here, you'll remember it again. So you have to keep fighting, ok Harry?" The boy, now bouncing in slight excitement, nodded vigorously.

I'm sorry, but I have to go now. I'll see you later Harry, alright. Don't worry, very soon this will be over." The child Saviour nodded, watching a bit sadly as the blond slowly faded away, already missing the security and comfort his visitor had offered.

Draco allowed his mind to fade out of Harry's, blinking his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the firelight after the bright tumult that he had just seen. He watched as Potter breathed slowly, fast asleep and smiled. Maybe Potter wasn't as bad as he once thought. With that idea in mind, he left Potter sleeping in his blankets, feeling better and more confident than he had before.

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It was four days later and Draco had once again sneaked to Harry's room to administer the third dose of potion. He had not risked going to see Potter the night before and was quite curious as to how the man was doing.

He, Amelle and Teddy had gone out to eat at a family restaurant that night and Amelle had loved playing the happy family game, without her seeming to realise it was a game to her male companions.

At one point, Pansy Parkinson and her husband showed up, causing a round of introductions to go around and finally they spent an hour and a half catching up. All in all, it would have been a great evening, if it wasn't for the fact that Draco and Teddy were feigning their happiness.

Making sure Potter had swallowed everything, he led the man over to the couch, making sure THE Gryffindor's snake was around the verdant-eyed man's neck and had him sit down. Sitting down beside him, he once again entered the man's mind to make sure everything was healing as it should be.

The second time he had entered the Gryffindor's mind it was to find a teenaged Potter walking around, examining the tattered remains of his memories. He had seemed surprised to see Draco, and very defensive. It appeared this Potter couldn't remember anything that happened during his insanity and definitely didn't remember that Draco had come into his mind a first time.

As such, it had taken quite a while and a slew of insults and shouting matches for Draco to convince Potter he wanted to help him, not deceive him. Draco knew that having Potter remember him would be troublesome.

Finally the two had walked around while Draco placed certain things back in order that he knew where they had to go. Overall, he tried not to tamper too much, since Potter should actually do this himself to adjust better, but a few things were the same in every mind, few that they were.

This time he was immediately greeted with Potter zooming around on his Firebolt, snatching memories and emotions out of the air as they fluttered around half-heartedly. The focused gaze of those bottle-green eyes caused an uncomfortable feeling to well up in Draco, but he put it aside when he saw Potter noticing him.

Turning his broom, the fully grown man landed in front of him, dismounting gracefully. "Hello Draco. I see you are back." Harry greeted and despite Draco's scolding to himself to stop calling the man Harry -His name is Potter!- he had found out too much about the Boy Who Lived to call him anything else; though his mind was apparently in denial.

"Ha-Potter. It's good to see you so energetic and sane-looking." Scoffing the man turned to look at the messy space that was his mental capacity and sighed.

"Well, I'm not sure about the sane part, but I'm getting there at least. That potion you gave me really helped. Thanks Draco. Also, I really think seeing as you've been in my mind three times now, without causing me immense pain, and is trying to help me, you should call me Harry. Potter just sounds rude." Sighing in vexation, Draco nodded, secretly glad that he no longer had to fight the strange impulse to call Harry by his first name.

"So, tell me how I'm doing on the outside? Sometimes I get glimpses, but I'm still largely unaware of my body's condition." Draco thought over Harry's question, wondering how to frame it nicely.

"Well, you are definitely moving better, not as much like an animal as before, but you still have a way to go. You can't speak yet and don't really respond to questions asked. I do, however, think that the sooner we organise your mess of a mind, the sooner your body will get better. In fact, I'm quite surprised you get glimpses of the world outside your mind already. That was only supposed to happen after the next dose." Grinning crookedly, Harry drawled teasingly.

"Well, I am Merlin, so I'm not surprised that I'm incredible." Snorting at the joke, Draco remembered when he had told teenaged Harry about the legend of how Merlin recovered from this potion and Draco's good-natured if a bit snarky mocking that he was the ancient wizard reincarnated.

"OK, so where should we start? I see you have done some work on putting everything back together, but there's still heaps of trouble lying around, so let's get to it."

For the next two hours, the two wizards worked hard to fix as much as they could of Harry's mind, good-natured ribbing and bantering being exchanged between them. Shockingly enough, Draco found out Harry had quite a dry wit and dark humour, making Draco start chuckling several times.

It was when they had at last placed the final emotion in its correct space that Draco sat down heavily, exhaling slowly as he looked around. It was almost unrecognizable as the chaotic and turbulent warzone it had been a few days previously. The verdant-eyed man flopped down next to him, whistling in appreciation.

"Wow. I never thought that just organising my emotions would make such a difference. At least now I don't constantly feel like a hormonal teenager going through puberty." The blond laughed tiredly.

"Bloody hell, don't remind me. I'm trying to block out those years. After all, I had a thing going on with Pansy then and let me tell you, she's a sloppy kisser. Tried to about eat my face off! Definitely one of the things that made me consider kissing guys instead."

"Oh hell, that reminds me of Cho Chang in my fifth year. She was crying when I kissed her, so it was the single most unpleasant kiss I ever experienced. Of course, at the time I thought that was how a kiss should feel, till Ron's brother, Charlie, kissed me the summer of my sixth year and showed me what a real kiss was." Harry laughed, a small smile on his face.

"Merlin, spare me the details! Though I'm sure the kiss was great, and even though the dragon brother is quite something to look at, he's still a Weasley and so beneath me."

Smiling to show he was joking around, he and Harry continued to compare guys they thought might be hot. It was one of the most surreal experiences of Draco's life, but also one of the most enjoyable ones.

Finally, exhaustion encroaching on his mind, Draco realised that he had been in Harry's mind a long time and he was beginning to feel the strain. From the way Harry was rubbing his head, he was also feeling it, so the blond said goodbye and exited his rival's mind.

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Chuckling as he watched Teddy running around, yelling over the different animals, Draco thought back to the past few days. Almost two weeks had gone by and Harry's last dose of the antidote was due tomorrow night. As a way to celebrate Harry's imminent release, though Amelle wouldn't know that was the actual reason, Draco had suggested taking Teddy to the zoo as a bonding experience.

Luckily, Amelle was all for the idea, as Draco knew she would be as soon as she heard the word 'bonding' and the result was Draco strolling along the pathway whilst Teddy ran ahead, Amelle after him in a dignified stride. Teddy was so excited he didn't even have to pretend to smile at Amelle, jabbering away as he asked questions about the various magical creatures.

This had allowed Draco to get lost in his memories of the last week safely, as the auburn-haired woman's entire attention was focused on the small boy her eyes followed devotedly. At the moment, Draco was remembering the instance when Harry had started to show improvement outside his mind, excluding his improved mobility.

_Teddy was paging through the cartoon book, exclaiming as he took in the new pictures. Harry had become better at telling a coherent story again, though there were still one or two pages that seemed cut-off from the rest. His godfather was watching him and Draco watched his godfather, feeling content._

_It had been a while since Teddy managed to come see Harry and he was nattering a mile a minute as he studied the scenes. Draco looked around, searching for the snake and mumbled absent-mindedly, not really expecting a reply. "Where is that snake…" It was with tremendous shock that the blond heard a hoarse, gruff voice answering him. "B- Zar."_

_Swinging around, Draco confirmed that yes, that was Potter speaking and yes, Teddy had heard it as well, since he was staring at his godfather slack-jawed. The man seemed embarrassed at their attention, since his cheeks coloured a dusty rose, but he continued stubbornly._

_"Bal- Zar… Bal-tha…zar. A- round. Ch- ches- t." Draco couldn't believe his ears. A large grin split Teddy's face and he jumped up, planting himself firmly on Harry's lap, before determinedly pointing at a snowy owl in the picture._

_"Who's this?" Harry smiled, a mere ghost of a twitch in his lip and painstakingly sounded out his answer._

_"He- d…wig." Frowning to himself, he tried again. "Hedge- wig. Fre- Frien- d." A warm glow suffused the Slytherin's entire body as he observed the two talking, though it was a bit stilted and wooden on Harry's side._

_When Teddy had asked about his snake, Harry had let loose a torrent of hisses, prompting a dark head poking out of the chest Draco gave the man. Slithering quickly to the man and boy, Harry had gently picked up the multi-coloured snake, gesturing for Teddy to touch him. Stroking him reverently, Teddy asked softly, seemingly afraid to startle the tiny snake. "What is his name?"_

_"Bal-tha…zar. Zar." Teddy's face contorted slightly, as he puzzled out Harry's meaning, before clearing triumphantly. "Balthazar? That's a cool nam!? Do you call him Zar if it gets too long?" Harry nodded and Teddy seemed satisfied, cooing over the newly named Balthazar._

Another milestone reached popped up in Draco's mind, this one after the latest dosage.

_Draco had come to really enjoy Harry's company and was beginning, in fact, to look forward to speaking with the Gryffindor. The last few times, he and Harry had shared a lot of conversations and thus he knew a ton of inconsequential details about the Saviour of the Wizarding World. Of course, Harry knew just as many things about Draco in return, but strangely, that didn't bother him as much as he thought._

_Despite his usual pompous attitude, the Pureblood had come to enjoy the chance to relax and just talk to a friend, without having to worry about being judged or making a social blunder. The fact that he even considered the semi-insane man a friend was already startling enough, but it was made easier by the fact that Harry didn't really comment on it and also treated him like a friend._

_Harry had only once asked him about the Weasleys and how they're doing and after that seemed content to talk about other matters. He was strangely interested in Draco's work in potions, though that could derive from the fact of him being poisoned and suspecting that he had also been doused with a mild love potion when he met Amelle. Whatever the reason for his interest, Draco found himself animatedly talking about effects of ingredients and potions several times, only to blush lightly when he realized his was rambling and snapped his mouth shut._

_Harry had laughed and told him not to be embarrassed, that he was cute when he was excited. Now if that didn't worsen his blush, he would eat his favourite eagle-feathered quill._

_Harry had gone on to tell him the secret of his potions genius in his sixth year and Draco had exclaimed that he always knew Harry wasn't smart enough to become that good on his own. This had incited a brief wrestling match where Harry tried to tickle him, but fortunately for Draco, the tables were turned on Harry when the blond realised Harry was extremely ticklish everywhere instead of one place like Draco was._

_It had ended up with Draco grinning triumphantly down at Harry, the brunet's hands pinned above his head and his face red with tears of laughter in the corner of his eyes. As they both panted, Draco had realised how flushed Harry looked, how his eyes were sparkling in laughter and how hot his own body was atop the other man._

_Hoping his rival hadn't seen his reaction, he had rolled off him, proclaiming Malfoys to be the best and forever winners. That had started another friendly bickering match and returned things to normal after that oddly sensual moment._

_Draco couldn't help but look forward to the time he spent with the previously lost Saviour. It amazed him how close he had grown to the ex-Gryffindor in such a short while and it frightened him a bit at how comfortable it felt to be with Harry._

_These thoughts plagued him whilst he and Harry walked through the man's healing mind and Draco had to fight down the blush which wanted to colour his cheeks an annoying pink when Harry's hand brushed against his, though the raven haired hero seemed unaffected as he rattled on about some nonsense which Draco probably should have paid attention to._

_However the small cough Harry gave afterwards was curious but Draco decided to ignore the hopeful thought which popped into his mind. Soon they were laughing together, sitting side by side, both staring into the other's glimmering eyes, the silver and green orbs ignited with delight and when Harry's hand rested closer to Draco's, causing their fingers to graze lightly, well Draco wasn't going to mention anything._

_Though so far the two continued to meet and talk inside Harry's mind, Harry was getting better at speaking out loud and making himself be understood. He had also regained most of his control over his magic, though there were times it would suddenly spiral out of control. It was as Draco was telling Harry that his treatment was almost complete and that he would have to stay in the secret room for at least a day after his last dosage, just to give the potion time to make sure everything is in its right place and his magic and control is fully restored, that the green-eyed man had turned pensive. After a moment of deep silence, Draco asked cautiously._

_"Harry? Is everything alright? You seem preoccupied." The Gryffindor has snapped out of whatever he had been thinking about, swinging around to regard Draco thoughtfully._

_"Yes, sorry, I promise everything is fine. It's just…" Frowning, the blond wondered what could be on the other man's mind._

_"Just what?" Harry was biting his lip and Draco resisted the impulse to reach out and ease the abused lip from between the pearly teeth._

_"Well, I was curious. Why are you doing this? Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful for your help and without you, I probably would have rotted away here, but what is your reason for helping me? We didn't get along at school and I only spoke to you once after school, at the trials when I gave you back your wand. So why?"_

_Draco looked forward, his mind sorting through what he wanted to say. After a long moment he spent thinking, he finally found the right way to phrase it._

_"At first, it was purely for Teddy. I didn't like the pain he was experiencing, coming to see his insane godfather every odd day, being forced to live with the woman who caused all his grief." He ignored the small flinch Potter gave at the harsh statement he made and continued._

_"But as I began to research what caused you to become like this, I was overcome with academic curiosity, much like Granger when she reads an interesting book. However, as I began to open my eyes to the way you behaved, the things you made, like that cartoon book and entering your mind, I came to do it more and more for you. I didn't like to see my rival brought down so low, reduced to what you were and later on, I didn't like to see my friend hurt like that._

_"It might be a bit presumptuous to call you a friend, but you have unmistakably become one of my best friends, especially since I talk more to you these days than my Hogwarts friends. So I guess, now, at this moment, I'm doing this for you."_

_He could feel Harry shifting besides him but was determinedly not looking at the man, a bit self-conscious at his confession. However, an arm being slung around his shoulders and pulling him against a warm body caused his gaze to snap to Harry's._

_Harry's eyes were gentle, so gentle and he couldn't remember ever seeing them that way. In fact, he believed the closest he had come to seeing the expression on the brunet's face was when he looked at Teddy, though not as intense. "I consider you one of my best friends as well."_

Smiling at the memory, Draco ambled along, watching the colourful animals and hearing Teddy's laughter in his ears, happy with his life and knowing it would soon get better.

HDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHD

The floo flared up and Draco could hear a familiar high-pitched young voice screaming.

_"Draco, HELP!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't kill me!!! I swear the cliffhanger is purely for old-time's sake, since what sort of author would I be if I didn't end the second to last chapter on a cliffhanger;P
> 
> This is probably one of my favourite chapters, since it delves a bit into the relationship Draco developed with Harry. Now, I know it's not a fluff overload, but this is a pre-slash, so I'm a bit limited in what I can do. However, I still hope to get comments to tell me what you thought!:)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I'm so sorry this chapter is posted so late, my internet's been wonky all day long and then due to stupid load shedding, I had no electricity till five minutes ago:( But, it finally went on again and the internet is all good again, so BANZAI!!
> 
> Anyway, here is the final chapter, I hope it doesn't disappoint!! Thank you guys so much for reading this story and leaving kudos. Thanks especially to skyglazingmaro, DiverTazSC and EntWolf for commenting on the last chapter, I enjoyed reading it:)

It was the day he would give Harry his last dosage of the potion and the blond felt as if time could not move slower. It was only lunch time and Draco, being a working man, was still stuck at his shop.

Luckily, he had an hour break, in which he closed for lunch, and could relax in his office, leaning back in his comfortable chair with his feet on his desk. Hermione -Damn Harry for talking about his friends so fondly, it changed even how Draco thought of them- had come in the morning and had seemed overjoyed at the news that she would definitely see her best friend in two days.

She had been so excited that she started to hyperventilate and Draco was hard-pressed to get a Calming Draught down her throat. After making sure she understood to not tell the Weasleys' about Harry till tomorrow morning, he had watched her leave, a bounce in her step.

Since then he had been assisting customers non-stop, running around as his shipment of dragon's blood had arrived right during his rush-hour. He really needed to get an assistant, as he was sometimes so swamped with customers and the ledgers and sorting of ingredients that he didn't get enough time to brew.

He would think about maybe placing an advertisement in the daily Prophet, but that would be after this mess with Harry was sorted out.

The floo in his office flaring up caused him to look over, only to hear a familiar high-pitched young voice screaming.

" _Draco, HELP!"_ The blond bolted up at the pure panic in Teddy's voice, almost falling over in his haste.

"DRACO! She knows! Aunt Ame-"

He was just in time to see the terror-stricken look on Teddy's face, before his voice was cut off as he was dragged out of the floo by someone on the other end. Faint yells and crashed came through the floo before it was abruptly cut off as the floo was closed.

The silence rang through his office and the world seemed to stop spinning.

_She knows. Amelle knows I know about Harry. Teddy! What about Teddy and Harry? They're in danger! I need to get to them!_

Bursting into acting, Draco felt strangely as if someone else was moving his body, as if the world was dimming around him. Throwing floo powder into the fireplace, more than half missing the waiting grate, he yelled 'Potter manor', not entirely surprised when the flames turned red to show the floo had been closed off.

His mind racing, yet seeming to crawl at the same time, he exploded out of his office, and threw the front door open. Hearing the door click shut behind him, he knew his usual wards had sprung up and he twisted mid-stride to apparate to Potter Manor.

Landing in front of the magnificent gates, his magic exploded outwards, causing them to crash open and was distantly relieved to see that Amelle had not yet had time to adjust the wards to keep him out.

Ignoring the burning pain on his side that suggested he may have splinched himself a bit, Draco ran towards the cold and imposing manor, his thoughts frantic with worry and fear. His blood was pumping through his veins as his heart raced and his pupils dilated.

Hurtling through the front door, he could immediately hear Teddy's loud screams echoing from deeper within, Amelle's high-pitched shrieking accompanying them. Following the sounds of fighting, he arrived in the living room to see Amelle dragging Teddy by the arm, yelling madly the entire time.

He could see tears in the small boy's eyes as her hands gripped his flesh painfully, no doubt leaving behind bruises.

And the world started turning again.

" _Get your hands off my cousin you bitch! REDUCTO!"_

Draco roared as he flung his hand forwards, his wand pointing at Amelle. The demented woman was hurled backwards, a sickening thud sounding as she crashed into the wall and slid down to the floor.

However, Draco knew she wasn't entirely knocked out and though he would love to finish her off, his first priority was Teddy, who was crying silently as his wide eyes stared at Amelle. They seemed stiff in his head and Draco knew the small boy was going into shock, so he ran forwards and scooped him up, before dashing from the room, Amelle already stirring.

The boy was clutching his shirt like a life-line, babbling under his breath how 'sorry he was' and that he 'didn't meant to let the secret slip'. Draco was about to turn back to reach the front door, when he remembered Harry and knew that though Amelle might not be more powerful than Harry, if she caught him by surprise or his magic flickered out of control in just the wrong moment, he could lose the Gryffindor as well.

Besides, Amelle was quite clearly demented and he didn't know what she would be capable of doing in this state. Better he made sure Teddy and Harry was in no harm at all. If he just got Teddy to Harry, then he would know the boy would be safe and he could face Amelle without having to worry about teddy being caught in the crossfire.

Changing direction, he rushed towards the rickety staircase and hidden room above it. His breath was gasping and he could feel his shirt clinging wetly to his side, but he paid it no mind as he knew he was short on time.

" _DRACO!"_ The distorted screech echoed up the hallway from behind him and he got a new burst of speed as he knew Amelle had recovered. Flinging the door open he started up the stairs, his heart pounding in his ears.

He could see the faint outline of the door five meters away and just when he felt as if he might make it, he heard a voice shriek from below. He had a moment to wonder how on earth she had arrived there so quickly, before the spell caught him.

"INCIDO!"

The Trip-jinx caught Draco just as he was about to take another bound and he felt the sensation of his foot being jerked from beneath him.

Protecting Teddy as he fell, he crashed into the stairs, jarring his knee painfully against the edge of the wood and causing his splinched side to flare up in agony. He shifted Teddy from beneath him, getting a glimpse from those terrified amber eyes.

"Teddy, run. Go to Uncle Harry and stay there! I'm going to stop Amelle here."

"But I don't have my phoenix with me!" Draco felt his heart fall through his feet, but squared his shoulders nonetheless.

"Then scream and yell and bang against that wall until Harry comes to you." Teddy nodded and scrambled up, even as Draco heard Amelle starting up the stairs.

Twisting around, he fired an 'arresto momentum' hearing Amelle curse as it hit her in the dark. A moment later, a ball of bright light shot up, hovering above the low ceiling and lightening everything up almost painfully bright.

For the first time, Draco really saw Amelle closely. Her eyes had the manic glint that he had seen once before and her hair curled wildly as it literally vibrated with her magic. Her face was distorted in feverish anger and her knuckles were white, so hard did they clutch her wand and the stair she had grabbed when her speed suddenly decreased.

"Convorto!" Draco flung up a shield to bounce the Transmogrify curse away, causing it to scorch the wall. He could feel his knee was in too much pain to stand and he knew he wouldn't be able to duel properly, so he made sure to keep the blue-ish shield up, even though it drained him. He then went on the offensive.

"Afligo! Alveusio! Expelliarmus!"

Each of his hexes was deflected, but they kept Amelle from advancing further up the stairs, which was what he wanted. She screamed in rage as she flung a purple curse at him which he deflected and returned with a 'Stupefy!'

"WHY?! Why are you keeping me from my son Draco?! I just want to live happily with my Ancil, but you RUINED EVERYTHING! Jean-Paul  _abandoned_  us! He doesn't deserve to be near his child!  _I'm_  the only one who looked after him, who raised him!  _ME_! Not anyone else! And now you want to  _take_ him  _away_?! Give him back to his  _uncaring father_?!"

Draco was confused about the woman's ranting for a split second, before he had to throw his body to the side as a curse cracked and broke through his protego. The sickly yellow curse blasted the stairs besides him, causing him to cry out as splinters imbedded themselves in his flesh. Gritting his teeth, he ignored the pain and aimed his wand.

"Anakatus! Caeco! Arctus! Protego! Stupefy!"

"Protego! Sectusempra! Castreo! Protego!" Draco felt agony enfold his entire body as a spell hit him, which caused it to feel like a hard blow to the crotch.

Shudders of pain wracked him as he curled up, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. He couldn't think, couldn't concentrate and he knew he should fight on, that Amelle was coming closer, but the pain of all his injuries combined blinded him.

He had lost his wand sometime after the spell had hit him and could see it lying a few steps down. However, Amelle was fast advancing and he wouldn't get to it in time. There was blood dripping down her face and a purpling bruise covered her arm and cheek, but she didn't seem to notice.

Trying to futilely drag himself up the stairs, he whimpered as he heard her right behind him and just as he prepared himself for the final strike, he felt a warm magic envelop him, caressing his face and lifting his hair lovingly.

" _POTTTTER!"_

He looked up to see Harry's figure framed in the doorway, his green eyes glinting in wrath and Teddy peeking out from behind him. Harry flung up his hand and Amelle screamed as she was flung down the stairs, her body rolling and crashing into the door below.

The next second, Harry was beside him, gently turning him around and easing the pain where he touched. "It's ok. I'm…here now. Give me a…moment to se- set out the tra-sh."

Blearily following Harry with his eyes, he saw the cold expression that shuttered over that handsome face as Harry turned towards Amelle.

"NO! You left me! You left your child! It's your fault Ancil died! I won't let you take him from me again!"

Harry didn't reply to her screams, instead seeming to crash whips of compressed air against her shield, pushing her steadily back. Each curse she flung at him, he barely twitched his body enough to evade as he continued down the stairs towards her.

Finally, Harry threw his magic in the form of a huge fireball at the woman, knocking her out of Draco's sight and following after her shortly. Draco scrambled up, telling Teddy to stay in the room at the top as it's dangerous and limped his way painfully down the stairs, clutching the railing tighly as he could barely place any weight on his knee.

Rounding the corner of the doorway, he was greeted with spells of every colour being flung through the air furiously, Amelle still screeching, but Harry deathly quiet.

"You don't deserve him Potter! No man deserves to be with their sons, they will just abandon them! I'll make sure no father can leave his son behind again. DO YOU HEAR ME JEAN-PAUL?! You stand there  _smirking_ at me, but I raised our son  _on my own_! I held his dead body in my arms and you were nowhere!

"I had to listen to the doctor tell me our beautiful baby boy, my Ancil, died because I was too stressed, that I had subconsciously wished he had never been conceived! BUT I KNOW THE TRUTH! You killed him! You MURDERED my baby by  _abandoning him_!"

Draco was horrified to hear the venomous words spewing from Amelle's lips. She was quite clearly insane! Even more insane than Harry was! She spoke as if Teddy was Ancil, as if Harry was Jean-Paul, but then she would jump back to separating them. Draco couldn't keep track of the way her thoughts split and jumped around, instead choosing to focus on the composed image that was Harry.

The Gryffindor was still steadily advancing, though Amelle haven't noticed, immersed as she was in her rants and deluded mind set. She continuously threw spells towards Harry, but in her loss of control, most of the spells went wide, crashing into walls and portraits, the tinkling of glass sounding as a window was blasted apart.

At last, Harry was right in front of the woman and with one fast movement, he moved past her arm and beneath her guard, his face inches from hers. In the shocked silence that followed, Draco heard one, whispered spell.

"Stupefy."

The red beam of light struck Amelle beneath her chin, causing her to be knocked back and sprawled on the floor, where she didn't move to stand up again. Draco felt relief fill his every being and he sank to the floor as his knees buckled beneath him. His hands were braced on the carpet before him as his head hung down, his breathing painful but elated. He felt hands on his shoulders and he looked up to see concerned emerald orbs bore into his.

"Are you…alright?" Draco nodded, his voice having left him and suddenly he felt those strong arms embrace him, holding him tightly to the body of the man before him. The pain that was coursing through his body slowly lessened as Harry's magic flowed over him, healing his splinched and splintered side and easing the pain in his knee and crotch.

His hands gripped the Gryffindor's shirt desperately and he hung on, afraid that if he let go, he would wake up and it would all have been a dream. He felt a small body wriggling in between them and transferred one of his arms to snake around Teddy, holding the sobbing boy to him closely.

The soothing hisses of Balthazar sounded in his ear where his nose was buried in Teddy's hair and he could feel the vibrations of Harry's voice on his ear, causing him to giggle slightly hysterically.

"It's over now. It's finally over."

HDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHD

It had been a few months since Amelle had been handed over to the Ministry, along with two vials of silvery memories and a full veritaserum account of the events which had taken place. The Ministry was aghast at what Amelle had done to Harry, especially as Minister Shacklebolt had been a friend and war companion of Harry.

The investigation into Amelle's actions and life had taken top priority and Harry was guaranteed a spot in the Aurors when he had finished recovering from the ordeal, especially since he had just finished his auror training when he met Amelle.

An in-depth diagnosis of Harry's body from the last five years had revealed that a very mild love potion had been used on him for the first two years of his marriage with the woman, just enough to make him love Amelle but not change his basic personality. It also revealed the Sedatio Magia Potion which had been in his system, guaranteeing Amelle a spot in Azkaban, pending the results of the investigation.

It had also been a particularly strong dose of the love potion, used on Harry when he had already been weakened by the Sedatio Magia Potion, which had enabled Amelle to convince Harry to write a letter declaring his need for adventure.

Draco's brewing of an antidote to an overdose of Sedatio Magia had been a point the healers had focused on eagerly. Despite the complexity and dangerous ingredients of the potion, it had not been an illegal one to brew, due to no one having known of it before.

Draco had happily allowed it to be published in a Potions Journal, making sure the Journal credited the discovery to one Severus Snape. St. Mungo's, upon seeing Draco's talents with potions, had offered him a basic contract for supplying them with all sorts of potions, despite that he wasn't technically a Potions Master.

When they heard of his desire to still become a fully-fledged Potions Master, they had graciously contacted another one of their contractors, who had been willing to finish his tutoring Snape had started with, presuming Draco put in his full effort.

When Harry had apparated to the Burrow directly after the fight with Amelle, Draco and Teddy in tow, it had provoked a shocked silence, before a crying Mrs. Weasley had thrown her arms around Harry, holding him in a death grip.

Fleur, who had been there as well to let her daughter visit their grandmother, had immediately floo'ed the other family members and it wasn't long before a full scale reunion had taken place, red-heads crowding around their lost family member.

Contrary to Draco's belief, he had been accepted gratefully as soon as Hermione and Harry had revealed the lengths he went to rescuing Harry and he had been embarrassed to admit that though awkward, the hug Mrs Weasley had given him was strangely heart-warming.

It was then, with the help of Ron who was an auror, that they had retrieved Amelle and taken her to the Ministry. A few days later, Potter Manor, which had only been bought because Amelle had insisted, was sold and Harry had procured what Draco considered a decent-sized stone cottage nearby the Weasleys.

He and Teddy had promptly moved in, with lots of help from the Weasleys and Draco and they were quite happy in their four bedroom, three bathroom house. The modest kitchen and huge living room was quickly broken in as Harry caught up with friends and invited Draco over frequently to have dinner with him and Teddy.

All in all, it was a happy time and one could almost forget the horror that were their lives for the past few years. Sadly, the investigation was drawing to an end and everyone was on high tension as they awaited Amelle's sentence.

"Draco?" A blond head lifted from the potion it had hovered above, his silver eyes meeting those loving emerald ones.

"Yes Harry?" Harry shuffled in place, before a series of hisses from the imperious snake around his neck forced him forwards and into speech. "The results of the investigation is in."

Draco froze, glancing at Harry shrewdly. Though Harry had been the one who was imprisoned and driven insane by the demented woman who had been his wife, of the two, it was Draco who hated her more. It seemed that though Harry harboured an intense dislike for her, bordering on maybe-hate, but he also felt sorry for her and had chosen to move on with his life four months later.

Draco, on the other hand, hated the woman with a passion, bearing a grudge against her for harming his cousin and friend. Well, friend he might have inappropriate feelings for. Not that he would tell Harry easily, because though he knew Harry cared about him a lot, he wasn't willing to humiliate himself should the man reject him.

"After extensive research and tests done on Amelle, they found out that the mind altering she went through as a child destabilised her mind. It was fine for a few years, but when she lost her son, her mind basically snapped. It caused her to fixate on something desperately, to be consumed by her obsession. Sadly, with her son dead, the one she fixated on was Teddy, since he was around the same age and without a mother, while being raised by another man.

"Apparently, she became confused between her own fiancé and son, and me and Teddy. Due to her mind being fractured this way, it has been decided that she will be permanently kept in an isolated ward of St. Mungo's, where they can try to heal her or rather, watch over her while she raises her imaginary son." Draco could see the pity Harry held for the woman whose life had been ruined by a decision made by her father in her youth, but he could not be bothered.

No matter what reasons Amelle had or the fact that she was an insane person masquerading as a sane one, he would never forgive her. Draco didn't forgive easily and he also had no interest in trying to put himself in Amelle's shoes, in fact, he was quite happy loathing her.

Harry seemed to recognize that in his hard gaze and sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Why do you hate her so much? She didn't hurt you that badly and Teddy already seemed recovered from his stay with her, since it was actually only that one time she went crazy. I've moved on. Why are you so steadfastly refusing to move on as well?" Draco twirled around fully, his eyes blazing as his magic flared agitatedly. The words seemed to come from his mouth without his consent, a fiercely hissed response and he could see Harry freezing and staring at him in surprise.

"Because she  _hurt_  you! And that I will  _never_  forgive. I care too much about you, you moronic prat!"

A second followed where their gazes was locked, smouldering and Draco could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. His mouth moved in a vain attempt to retract what he said, before Harry could gently tell him he didn't love him that way, before-

A yank at his midriff pulled him towards Harry, the man's magic towing him till where Harry could wrap his arms around his waist, his mouth descending upon Draco's in a passionate kiss. Fire raced through their bodies as they pressed against one another, Draco's hands coming up to grip Harry's hair, as one of Harry's hands slid up to cup the back of his neck.

A warm tongue traced his lips delicately and his mouth opened to allow it in. And Draco was promptly in heaven. Or as he imagined heaven would be.

He didn't know how long they stood there, basking in their love for one another. In the back of his mind, a smug little voice was crowing about how he had known Harry cared for him and how he, Draco, was the one to snag the Chosen One of the Wizarding World.

 _Take that you prejudiced bastards_ , he victoriously gloated in his mind at all the wizards and witches who had insulted him behind his back.

However, the majority of his focus was on the slick tongue against his, the defined arms, which had quickly gained back their muscle, holding him tightly and the little noises that came from Harry's throat.

He could feel Balthazar slithering down Harry's arm and then leg, hissing all the way. He was sure the snake was complaining loudly in disgust, as Harry was chuckling softly into his mouth, but Draco didn't deem it important enough to stop him from kissing Harry.

He pressed closer to the leg that slipped between his own, almost completely supporting his weight as he was held against the desk.

He knew there would be problems down the road, knew Harry was still experiencing flashbacks to his time being imprisoned, knew he would have to share Harry with the Weasleys and his other friends.

But at the moment he didn't care and not even the door banging open and the excited snuffling of the blue Pygmy Puff and Teddy's young voice going 'Euw, grandma, they're eating each other's faces!' could ruin the moment for him.

All in all, Draco Malfoy was finally content with his life.

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINISHED! I really hope you guys are satisfied, I know the end was kinda anti-climactic, but for me, it was never about the fighting, but rather, their story of how they came together. I would love to hear any thoughts on Draco Malfoy, as comments help me write better in the future!
> 
> To all readers who started reading Draco Malfoy after I finished it, please, please, please leave a comment for the last chapter, even if you haven't left one for any other, since I'm super excited to hear how you experienced it and what you liked about it (even what you didn't).
> 
> Thank you for everyone who commented throughout the story, I loved reading and responding to every single commentXD
> 
> Bye for now lovelies!


	10. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, this is a very short epilogue, because so many people asked for a bit more than I gave in the last chapter. Please be aware that I tried to insert everything everyone asked for, but I'm sure I didn't manage, as some things just didn't work when I tried to write them. Also, I won't change my last chapter, as it was rushed on purpose, as that was how Draco experienced it at the time, as chaos.
> 
> Thanks for everyone who left a comment and read this story, you guys are awesome! There are so many of you that I can't name you all (otherwise this AN is going to be ridiculously long), but know that I appreciate every one of you!
> 
> I'm sorry if you find any discrepancies, I didn't reread the entire story before writing this and though I tried to look up certain things, I might have missed something. It is also unbeta'ed, so I apologize for any mistakes.
> 
> Hope you guys are satisfied with this peek into what happened!

**Epilogue:**

Draco rolled up his sleeves as he opened yet another box, his mind soon becoming tired of going through endless trinkets and trash he hadn't even remembered he owned. Harry had asked him to move in almost eight months after he had been released and Draco was boxing up his stuff for the move. Heavens knows why he didn't just use a house elf to do these things, he had enough money to procure one now, especially with the steady income St. Mungo's provided for his potions.

He grumbled as he continued searching for possessions in the corner of the dusty wardrobe, knowing that it was the influence of his Gryffindor boyfriend that had him packing himself. At least he could still use magic, but he wasn't proficient enough in household charms to sort everything he wished to pack, so that had to be done by hand.

A crinkle and the feeling of smooth, old parchment had him pausing and he retracted his hand to stare down at the cut-out he held. It was the article the Quibbler had printed after Harry's rescue, spouting off about some sort of imaginary creature that had held him prisoner and infected the minds of those around him. Snorting, he set it to one side, knowing Harry would want it for a laugh. Further investigation had him pulling out the box that held photos and such things from the period right after Harry's rescue.

Smoothing out the yellow parchment, Draco stared at the printed black letters of the Prophet, the bold headlines screaming out to the reader.

**Our Saviour is Saved!**

**Our dear readers of the Prophet will remember the scandalous story of the one and only Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter, the events that lead to that title and the happenings that took place after the Battle of Hogwarts. Single witches everywhere mourned when they found out the Potter heir was to be married and this to a witch that no one knew the origins off. The Wizarding world would be further shocked when that same Harry Potter abandoned his wife, Amelle Potter and his godson, Theodore Lupin on a grand search for adventure. Wizards and witches everywhere though they knew the truth and were content.**

**However, a much darker thing was taking place behind the scenes. Amelle Potter nee Bordeaux was not the charitable, kind and charming young lady she seemed, instead, a dark persona hid within her. Drugging The Chosen One with a love potion and a magic suppression potion, she took control of the vast Potter fortunes, fame and political power, before letting out Saviour 'disappear'.**

**To the shame of witches and wizards everywhere, only a select few so much as suspected foul play, while the majority welcomed the gold digger into our society…**

Draco threw the article down in disgust. The entire piece was written in that manner, lavishing praise on Harry for escaping, making only a brief mention of his part in the whole debacle and painting that mad woman in the light of a power-hungry gold-digger. It also seemed like a lot of witches with absolutely no ties to Harry had a heart-rending comment to make about how they always knew that woman couldn't be trusted, the Prophet not caring that those women probably fit the descriptions of Amelle in the paper better than she did.

He rifled through the box some more, unearthing a photo of a grinning Harry, Draco next to him and Teddy snuggled in his arms, with Weasleys surrounding the three of them. Draco remembered the day it was taken…

" **D-Draco, it's ok… they… won't eat… you!" Harry's exasperated voice, still struggling with speech, had Draco shooting a glare at the amused green eyes looking at him. Teddy was clinging to Harry with the tenacity of a leech and Draco didn't think the boy was ever planning on letting go. Seeing as they had only just escaped Potter Manor, Amelle still stunned inside it, he thought it was a sensible reaction to have.**

**Looking at the slightly lopsided house of the Weasleys, Draco wished he could cling to Harry as well, though he would never admit to that thought. Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders and followed Harry towards the house, his palms clammy and his body tense. As Harry opened the door, Draco could hear loud voices in conversation, the giggling of children, before everything went quiet. The silence was deafening and he shifted his weight nervously.**

**The blond could see the Weasley matron staring at Harry with wide eyes, as well as a blond woman he remembered being Fleur Delacour and a small girl he presumed was her daughter. There was a small redheaded boy, who he vaguely remembered being the Weaslette's son and another redhead he thought was the one who worked at the Ministry, Percy, if he remembered correctly.**

" **H-Hey." Harry's voice cracked under the pressure as he smiled sheepishly at everyone in the kitchen. As if Harry's voice was the switch, Molly Weasley burst into tears, rushing forwards and throwing her arms around the Boy Who Lived. Her actions seemed to unfreeze the others in the room and the children crowded at his legs, while Percy slapped his back and Fleur urgently flooed the rest of the family. Within ten minutes, the large kitchen was filled with clamouring red heads, laughter and tears running free as Harry were welcomed back. Draco hung back uneasily, his face uncertain as he watched the reunion.**

**Of course, it would be the Weasel who saw him first. "What is he doing here?!" Suddenly, a veritable sea of blue and brown eyes all stared at him and Draco could feel his old behaviour roaring up as he straightened, a sneer on his face.**

" **I just so happen to be here with Harry. Not that it has anything to do with you." Ron's face was going red, till even the tip of his ears were stained crimson and his fists clenched.**

" **This is my home Malfoy and you're not welcome here! Harry would never associate with you." Draco could feel a light flinch travel through his body, but he was sure none of the Weasleys saw it. Or rather, he hoped they didn't.**

" **Lay off Ron. Draco is Teddy's cousin and if he's here with Harry, then that's Harry's decision." George Weasley was the last person Draco had expected to stand up for him, but he guess the man remembered the last time he had been in his shop.**

" **Ron… He's telling…the truth. Draco's here with… me. Ask Herm..ione." Harry's words had the redhead pause, before he turned towards the bushy haired woman. She rolled her eyes and glared at her old friend turned lover.**

" **Honestly Ronald, if you just waited, I would have explained it all. Draco found Harry some time ago and has been helping him ever since. He approached me for some help and together we managed to free Harry." Hermione quickly explained to the stunned Weasleys what had really happened to Harry and Draco was gratified to see the horror and later respect on their faces. Finally, Hermione fell quiet and Ron looked at her silently.**

" **Oh dear, I can't believe you had to experience that! That horrible woman, I always was a bit suspicious of her." Harry smiled at the distraught Mrs Weasley, trying to comfort her; but Draco could see the relief on his face as Mr Weasley took his wife into his arms, cradling her as she cried.**

" **I'm just glad Harry is fine now. We all know you're strong, so it's no surprise you came back to us. O yeah, Harry, I want you to meet my son, Rupert. I don't know if you remember him, as the time he was born was about a few months before you disappeared." Draco looked at the small redheaded boy Ginny held on her hip and how Harry greeted the child, easily talking with his old girlfriend about her son and husband.**

**A quiet voice broke through the chatter however, one Draco realised came from Ron as the man looked at his wife with hurt eyes. "Hermione, why didn't you tell me? I understand why we couldn't tell the aurors or people outside the family, but why did you keep it from me?"**

" **If I had told you Harry was being kept prisoner in Amelle's attic, driven insane by a potion and hurting, would you have been able to stop yourself from storming the house? And even if you were able to, are you good enough an actor to fool everyone at the ministry as well, to act like nothing's changed?" Ron's face crumpled, as he knew his behaviour would have made some people suspicious and he accepted his wife's argument.**

**Draco was surprised to see the weasel turn towards him, his face no longer filled with anger, but rather gratitude. "Thanks, Malfoy, for saving Harry. I really do appreciate it and I'm sorry for my rude reaction."**

**Draco nodded and his acceptance seemed to be the invitation for the other Weasleys to crowd him with their gratitude. Through the entire uncomfortable and awkward experience, Harry just stood to one side, smiling gently. Mrs Weasley had had her arms around him for the last minute it seemed and he was firmly denying any warmth he felt welling up at her heartfelt embrace. Draco was approaching his limit however, and he contemplated how to extract himself without seeming rude, especially as his hastily treated injuries seemed to bother him all the more.**

**At that moment, the floo flared green again and a tall, imposing wizard stepped out. The gold of his earing glinted against his black skin and Kingsley's eyes zeroed in on Harry. With two large strides, he was in front of the Gryffindor, clapping him on the back and exclaiming his pleasure at seeing him again. It took another few minutes of explaining till the Minister was on the same page as everyone else.**

" **Well, I'm glad you're alright now. Believe me, she isn't going to get away with this. Ron, I'm going to send you a few aurors to retrieve Miss Bordeaux. Harry, I'm also going to need some memories from you and Mr Malfoy. It would be better, though not compulsory, if you can reiterate an account of what happened under the influence of Veritaserum, just to ensure there's no doubt in Miss Bordeaux trial." Harry nodded and Draco sighed, resigned to having his brain picked clean. At least, it was for Harry's sake. At that thought, he suddenly didn't mind so much the hassle he was going to go through.**

Draco grimaced at the commotion that followed, how he had extracted his memories and taken Veritaserum, telling everything that had happened up until then with a monotone voice. He had been so relieved when Weasley left with the aurors, though it wasn't long before Hermione had ushered him and Harry through the floo, telling them in no uncertain terms that they were going to St. Mungo's. Draco had been relieved when his various cuts and bruises, as well as his knee had been fixed in a jiffy, Harry's examination taking far longer than his own. he had also had to talk to various healers about the potion used on Harry.

" **I almost can't believe the results… The Sedatio Magia Potion? How are you managing to walk around like this and talk Mr Potter?"**

" **Ah, I can answer that." The healer turned towards Draco, and he could see disbelief, but also curiosity in her eyes.**

" **Really Mr Malfoy? Please continue then."**

" **I found an antidote to the potion, invented by one Severus Snape. It's main ingredients are angel trumpet blossoms, as well as Chameleon skin and it's administered in doses. Potter didn't take his last dose, so that's why he's still not fully recovered, like his speech being stilted."**

" **The Sedatio Magia potion is a very complex potion, with a difficult brewing process and I imagine the antidote would be as well. How did you manage to brew it? I am not aware of you being a master at potions…?"**

**Draco's expression soured, as he hated to be reminded that he couldn't apprentice under someone up until this point. It was Harry, surprisingly, who answered.**

" **Draco's really good…with potions. He wants… to become a potions… master."**

" **Really? And under whom are you apprenticing?"**

**Draco felt a flush trying to travel up his cheeks, but he forced it away as he answered. "So far, I've not been able to find a suitable Master."**

**The healer nodded, her disbelief entirely gone and her expression thoughtful. "I see. Mr Malfoy, would you be open to publishing the antidote? Also, I know a Master here at St. Mungo's who might be able to take you on as an apprentice. After you gained your masters, we can discuss possible employment in my ward."**

**Draco could feel incredulity and also excitement push up in him. He was going to get the chance to do what he always wanted.**

Draco smiled slightly as he rubbed his thumb over another photo, one of him and Harry standing together, Draco proudly holding up the badge that showed his status as a Potions Apprentice. Harry was beaming, his arm casually around Draco's shoulders. This photo had actually been taken just over a month after Harry had been rescued and Draco remembered how his heart had beat faster as he stood under Harry's arm, desperately trying to control his elation.

There was also a photo of him, Harry, Ron and Hermione standing in front of St Mungo's, Harry having been just told that the last of the potion had left his system and he was entirely healthy again. There had been a large celebration…

" **Harry dear, Draco dear! Come one in! I've just finished dinner, so you're right in time!"**

" **What am I mum, chopped spleen?"**

" **Oh shush Ronald, this is a big day for Harry, being fully recovered from that vile woman's actions…" Draco could see Mrs Weasley's jaw firming as her eyes flashed, but after a second it was gone again and she was ushering them to their seats. Draco could believe the amount of food the groaning table was holding up and he dazedly dished himself some food as he listened to the chatter around him. He was aware that most of his attention was centred on Harry, but didn't think anyone noticed till Hermione leaned closer from where she was sitting beside him.**

" **He looks happy. I want to tell you again how grateful I am for making him that happy Draco." Flushing, the Malfoy glowered at her, almost choking on his potato.**

" **What on earth are you on about Granger? Of course Harry is happy. He's free and with his family, I have nothing to do with it." Hermione's eyes sparkling in a particularly annoying way and Draco had the distinct impression she was laughing at him.**

" **Sure Draco, whatever you say." Later that evening, when everyone had gathered in the living room, which somehow had enough space for all the Weasleys, Draco sat sipping on his butterbeer, laughing as Harry rolled around on the floor with the children. He thought the Gryffindor looked absolutely ridiculous, but he couldn't deny the way his heart sped up each time Harry's laughing eyes caught his own. He was so engrossed in watching their roughhousing, that he hadn't even realised Arthur Weasley had sat down next to him till the kindly patriarch patted his arm.**

**Looking up, his gaze caught the gentle chocolate one of Arthur and he smiled hesitantly. In the two weeks that had passed, he had become a bit more used to the Weasleys, but he still found it difficult to interact with them sometimes. However, he tried for Harry, even though he wasn't sure why Harry's approval mattered to him so much.**

" **How're you doing Draco? I know my family can be a bit much at times."**

" **It's no problem Mr Weasley. This is Harry's family too, if you believe him, so I'll just have to get used to it." There was some sort of unnameable joy in the older man's eyes, but Draco didn't know what it meant or why he felt like flushing in embarrassment, so he took a swallow of his butterbeer to try and distract himself.**

" **Thank you son. I hope you continue to be there for Harry. He needs you more than you know."**

" **More than I know? Don't you mean more than he knows?" Arthur laughed softly, though the blond didn't feel the man was mocking him, rather delighting in something.**

" **Oh no, Harry is perfectly aware of how much he needs you. Now you just need to reach the same revelation." With that cryptic remark, Mr Weasley stood up, smiling one last time as he walked towards his wife. Looking around, Draco realised that the people in the room had totally accepted him into their lives and as he caught Harry's eye again, he smiled.**

**Draco was certain the red flush on the Gryffindor's face wasn't just from the playing and he felt a sort of strange smugness at the sight of it. He settled back, allowing himself to be pulled into a conversation about charm uses between George and Ron as he enjoyed the kind atmosphere.**

It was only much later, when he and Harry had started dating, that Draco had made sense of Mr Weasley's words. He did think that the patriarch had overlooked the depth of Draco's own need of Harry though and Draco had decided he was ok with needing harry, as Harry needed him just as much.

Flicking through the box, he found another photo that showed Harry and Teddy standing proudly in front of the quaint cottage Harry had bought, both of them excited to start with their new lives. Draco smiled as he saw himself walking into the photo, ruffling Teddy's hair as he teased Harry about his downscale in house size.

The photo reminded Draco of what he was supposed to be doing and he quickly finished his categorizing and packing, suddenly eager to arrive at The Antlers, which was what Harry had jokingly named his house and it had stuck. Flicking his wand, he shrunk down his boxed, stuffing them in a single bag which he held in his hand as he apparated from the flat he had stayed in.

Opening his eyes, he breathed in deeply as he took in the beautiful house in front of him, the walls painted a soft cream and the roof dark. Deep, mahogany windows and doors were tastefully spaced and wild flowers and lilies grew everywhere. A cobbled pathway led to the front door and Draco ambled down it, enjoying the fresh air.

"Draco!" Teddy's cry had Draco bracing himself, as the small boy slammed into him a split second later, his small face smiling up at him. Contrary to what everyone had thought when Harry asked Draco to move in, Teddy hadn't had a fit of jealousy. In fact, the young metamorphmagus seemed almost more excited than Harry was, which was almost a miracle. Draco chuckled as his small cousin towed him towards the door, where Harry was grinning as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Hey."

'Hey." Draco smiled, his heart beating at the love in Harry's eyes as the Gryffindor leaned down slightly to give him a slow kiss. As usual, everything else just faded into the background and Draco leaned closer, his blood rushing to unmentionable places. An impatient tug at his shirt had him breaking the kiss to see Teddy scowling adorably up at them, his hair a deep blue and his eyes orange.

"Alright, alright. Will you show me to my room Teddy?" Smiling brightly again, Draco followed his cousin, Harry trailing behind them as they both listened to Teddy chatter. Arriving at the room that had been unofficially his for a few months now, Draco enlarged his boxes and the three of them had great fun arranging everything, though Teddy was more underfoot than anything else.

Finally, Draco was satisfied with his room and they converged at the kitchen, Harry making some lunch for all of them that they ate as they talked. Teddy was telling them a story about a friend he had met at the school he had started going to and Draco was happy to see that the boy had settled in nicely in his new neighbourhood. It helped that the Weasleys and their various offspring were just a floo call away.

When Harry and Teddy had moved in, they had worried about how Teddy would adjust to the change, as all he ever remembered as a home was the cold of the Potter manor. However, the young boy surprised them, as he flourished in the new environment, under the care of his godfather. Draco remembered one evening he had come over for dinner, walking in on a scene that warmed his heart.

" **NO HARRY! You don't throw peppers in the food, you'll poison Draco!" The blond in question paused as he was just about to walk into the kitchen, his curiosity peaked by Teddy's claim.**

" **Oh? And why would peppers poison Draco? I'm sure he said he liked them."**

" **How can anyone like peppers? My friend Melinda told me the red ones burn, the yellow ones cause a stomach ache and the green ones are poison." Harry's deep chuckle filled the kitchen and Draco smiled as well, listening to the six year old's argument against the vegetable.**

" **Teddy, sweet peppers don't burn, they are sweet, like their name. If you don't want to eat them, you don't have to. But you may only say no after you've had a taste and didn't like them." Peeking carefully around the door, Draco watched as Teddy pouted, crossing his arms as he glared balefully at the offending peppers.**

" **It's not that** _ **I**_ **don't like them, but that Draco might not like them… how can you know they're not poison?"**

**Harry laughed again, his chuckle warm and he popper a slice of the red vegetable into his mouth, chewing and swallowing. He did the same with the yellow and green peppers, showing Teddy that they were harmless. The young metamorphmagus still looked doubtful, but he cautiously took the red pepper slice Harry handed to him, staring at it for a long moment. Then, screwing up his eyes, his shoved it in his mouth, chewing and swallowing quickly.**

" **Did you even taste anything?" Harry asked doubtfully, the amusement clear in his eyes.**

" **Yes!" Harry laughed before pushing a yellow and green slice towards his godson. The boy gave a put-upon sigh and Draco had to muffle his chuckle at Teddy's glare. He ate the yellow slice slower, before doing the same with the green pepper. The sight of his face screwing up in distaste had a chuckle escaping Draco, but luckily they didn't hear it over the sound of Harry's laughter.**

" **Ugh! The red and yellow ones are ok, but the green one is definitely poison! Harry, quick, do you have a bezzor, I think I might die!"**

" **It's bezoar and you won't die Teddy. I promise you, though distasteful, the green pepper is perfectly harmless." Both Harry and Teddy looked up at Draco's voice as he walked into the kitchen, his eyes laughing. He swallowed as he though he saw a flash of something in Harry's eyes, but then it was gone and he turned to pay attention to Teddy's complaining.**

A tug on his waist had him come back to the present and before he knew it, he was sprawled across Harry's lap as they sat in front of the fire in the living room, Teddy drawing in front of them as he continued his monologue. Instead of immediately jumping up like he wanted to, the blond forced himself to relax and he settled deeper against Harry, enjoying the arms around him.

It seemed as if time flew by and before he knew it, it was time for Teddy to go to bed, though the boy complained bitterly about it the entire way to his room. Harry tucked his godson in and Draco sat at the foot of the bed as he told him a muggle fairy tale about a boy that never grew up, called Peter Pan. Draco personally though it sounded like this Peter Pan got his hands on a philosopher's stone and was just fooling everyone.

With the story finished, Harry promised to one day show the DVD, whatever that was, to Teddy and he kissed his forehead. Standing, his lover moved to the door and Draco leaned forward to bestow his own goodnight's kiss on Teddy's forehead. A small hand jumping out and grabbing his sweater had him leaning closer, till Teddy's lips were at his ears and the words of his cousin had a strange joy rising in him.

"I'm glad you're living with us now Draco. I love you." Caressing Teddy's light blue hair, Draco whispered back, delighting in how happy Teddy's eyes showed he was.

"I love you too. I'm glad to be here."

Back in the living room, Draco allowed Harry to pull him down onto his lap again, lying back against his boyfriend's strong chest. He groaned in pleasure as firm lips gently kissed his neck, arching his head to one side to give Harry more room. Harry's hand were massaging his chest and nipples through the fabric and his own hand reached back to tangle in the raven hair, the other one clutching Harry's jean-clad knee.

"Draco…"

"Hmmm…?" Draco couldn't think coherently, especially not as Harry kept his lips against his neck as he whispered.

"I realise this is all moving very fast, but I just… I realised once again how easily something can go wrong and I just wanted to…to…" Draco was more alert now and ignoring Harry's hands on his hips, he twisted his body around, so that he was straddling his lover. Trying very hard to not pay attention to what was pressed against his very interested groin, he focused entirely on Harry's vulnerable expression.

"What are you trying to say Harry?" he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from in front of those green eyes. The emerald orbs searched his own grey-blue ones and then Harry reached into his pocket, showing a plain silver ring with a Celtic band across it lying on his palm.

"In the muggle, it's called a promise ring world that goes onto your right ring finger. It's like a pre-engagement ring, to show we are promised to each other. I don't want to rush into this, but I do want you to be mine. We'll both wear one and then, when we're ready, we'll exchange it for proper engagement rings."

Draco swallowed, his throat thick as he looked into the sincere eyes of a man he realised he loved more than anything he knew he could. His fingers shaking lightly, he picked up the ring, slipping it onto his right hand's ring finger, admiring how it looked there.

"It looks good on me. I think I'll keep it." Harry choked back a laugh, his eyes bright and before Draco knew it, he was being kissed fiercely. He was vaguely aware of a matching ring on Harry's own finger, but at the moment he paid more attention to Harry's wandering hands that were massaging his arse and the sensation of those hot lips on his. As Harry's mouth moved to his neck and collarbone, Draco couldn't help but grin as he caught sight of the ring once again, before he was distracted by Harry's ministrations.

He was Harry's and Harry was his. Forever.

The End

HD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, I hope everyone who asked for more liked this chapter, because there 100% won't be more. Seriously, I surprised myself by writing this and it even turned out longer than I thought. I chose to use flashbacks, as at the time it really was too chaotic for Draco to think about everything in detail, so I hope it's still ok.
> 
> I know Teddy's real name is Edward, as SadButTrueMemory on FF.net so kindly told me and I'm ashamed to say I never went to look it up when I started writing. For the sake of keeping everything the same, I'm just going to say his name is Theodore in this fic, but it will be the first and last fic I do that (as I'm too lazy to go change it now). So for everyone who asks, that is the reason I'm not using his real name.
> 
> Also, please comment to tell me what you thought, if you liked it, if it was a waste of time of whatever else you can think of. To everyone reading this after I finished it, I hope you appreciate the comments of the guys before you, as I never would have written this last epilogue if not for them. Do me a favour and be awesome like them and leave a comment, they really do make miracles come true.

**Author's Note:**

> There you go! Short, I know and most of the other chapters will be a bit longer, but I hope you enjoyed it. Please comment, it makes me excited like a girl on candy rush to see my inbox full of comments! I also adore hearing my reader's thoughts. The next chapter will be posted Tuesday, with the chapter after that also being posted on Tuesday the week after, so look forward to it:)


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